Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

This is an issue for enterprise, social protection and health. GPs are private practitioners. Many of them have contracts with the HSE to provide public services. Services provided outside of these are a private matter. The Medical Council is there to protect the public. Part of this is registering doctors as quickly as may be, and part of it is making sure that doctors operate to a very high standard. I encourage the Medical Council to reflect on the issue Deputy Feighan has correctly highlighted, recognising the impact it may have on employers, particularly small businesses. I assure him that everybody in government takes a strong interest in this.

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