Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is very good. I would usually be trying to sell the place to her. I would tell everyone how great the place is and would say that it has everything, yet, unfortunately, the one thing it lacks is an abundance of GPs. That is why I am raising this Topical Issue.

The Minister of State is familiar with the area. It is a vast area and it is geographically unique. In many places, there will be one GP and one GP practice, maybe with a couple of practice nurses, covering a vast area. This is the problem. It is putting services under pressure and it means in many instances that families and other people living in the area and even visitors are struggling to access GP services. This pressure that is being put on GPs is also putting the really important out-of-hours South Doc services at risk. It has become so bad that GPs are getting to the situation where they are unable to just take a week’s holiday, which is very sad. It is not good enough for the GP. It is also not good enough for the service users and the people living in that area. That has to change.

Unfortunately, the situation has disimproved over the past number of years. I would like to mention the GP for the Beara Peninsula, which is the furthest west tip of west Cork. She is based in Castletownbere, which is the town that is relevant to that area. The GP is unbelievable. She is so dedicated to her work, to the people of the Beara Peninsula and to the patients who she serves. She rarely takes lunch.

She never gets home when she is supposed to get home and she is unbelievably dedicated to what she does. She was in a position to take a week's holidays with her family, which is an important thing for her and her family to do. However, for the retired GP who had offered to cover for her during this week, her medical insurance ran out the day before she was due to start providing cover for the GP in the area. The insurance could not be renewed, which is ridiculous. This meant that this GP, who has dedicated her life to serving the people of Castletownbere had to make the heartbreaking decision of closing her practice temporarily, leaving the people of this vast geographical area on the furthest south-west tip of Ireland without GP cover.

That is not good enough but unfortunately that scenario I have just painted is the reality on the ground. GP services are under pressure, out-of-hours SouthDoc services are under severe pressure and families moving into the area are failing to get access to a family doctor. Something needs to happen. I understand that 350 training places are being made available in 2024, so I want to know when that is happening and how soon it might be happening. There is also talk of 100 non-EU GPs being recruited to try to ease the pressure. Recruiting 100 GPs will not be anywhere near enough so I would like to see that number increased. When can we expect to see these non-EU GPs recruited?

Then there is this strategic review that we are expecting. We need to see that published as soon as possible so that we can move on, reform and bolster large parts of Ireland with the GP cover that is needed to serve communities. I am looking forward to the Minister of State’s response. I appreciate the Minister for Health is not here but I am sure she will do an incredible job of representing him.

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