David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The date of 1 April was not a date that I set but was one that was set very clearly by the Minister in the budget for this year. Ministers make big announcements like this. It was a big announcement and it is significant that we are looking to expand free GP care to hundreds of thousands more citizens. It is something that I included in Sinn Féin’s alternative budget and is very similar to the Minister’s proposals. I also made the point in our alternative budget for this year that we need to put in place the building blocks and additional capacity and supports for GPs, which are also stretched, and we have to ensure that we can do this. Setting a date, however, and missing a target is not something that should be done because people need to have confidence when a Minister stands up on budget day and says that he is going to do something on 1 April, that he or she has the ducks lined up, that it is going to be done and that this is an announcement that will be delivered upon. This has not been the case and yesterday I was still not given any timeframe as to when this will happen. I will, therefore, ask the Minister this question again today. Is it next month, May, June, July or when are we likely to see these 500,000 people getting the free GP card?

See this speech in context