Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would be delighted to meet the ICGP. It is an excellent organisation. It is doing the training now, but there is an awful lot of innovation and constant thinking about the future of the profession. I agree with regard to the need for salaried GPs. I have no issue with that. I would like to see more of that. It is something of an anomaly in a public health service where the vast majority of GPs are private contractors. That suits many of them and that is fine. Like the Deputy, I have spoken to GPs who would much prefer not to have to be entrepreneurs or businesspeople. They are doctors and they would love to be able to come into the system. There are a lot of primary care centres out there. Many more were added last year. If the Deputy has examples or evidence of situations where the State or the HSE is making it too difficult for them to go in on contract, I would be very happy to take a look at it.

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