Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Minister's statement about the forum, which is great, but I wonder when it will happen. I am not feeling a sense of urgency from the Minister in relation to this matter. There needs to be a greater priority given to recruiting and retaining doctors in these services, especially in rural areas like west Cork. As the Minister said, I previously raised with him the case of the Castletownbere service, which has been completely unavailable on multiple occasions due to staff shortages. The regular GP staff are doing all they can.

In reply to a parliamentary question, the HSE told me that due to the reliance on locum doctors and the significant shortfall in their availability, there may be occasions when this additional support is not available. For people in Castletownbere, the nearest SouthDoc service is almost an hour away, either in Bantry or Kenmare, on quite bad, narrow country roads. The Minister can imagine how difficult it would be for someone with a sick child or an elderly parent.

Another case is the Kinsale service, which was closed a number of years ago, despite huge local opposition. Kinsale is a large and growing town which should have a dedicated service.

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