Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree that the State needs to step in and I suggest it has done so in a significant way. We have increased the number of training places from 120 to 350 and we are supporting the ICGP in what it is doing.

I am open to having directly employed GPs. In fact, in Swanlinbar, which has been referenced, there is a locum GP who is paid by the HSE to provide those services. In areas that are struggling to find GPs, I am open to having directly employed GPs.

With the significant increase in the numbers of GPs we are now beginning to see, many of these pressures are beginning to ease and will ease further, although not everywhere all at once. Some areas are under real pressure.

Ireland currently has approximately 65 GPs per 100,000 people. In Scotland, the figure is more than 90 per 100,000 people. Our aim is to get to that level. At the current rate of increasing GPs, we are on track to reach that target in the next five years. It will take time but hopefully people in more parts of the country are seeing better access.

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