Colm Burke (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for dealing with this, which is an important development. I always wondered why this issue was never challenged in the courts over the past ten or 15 years. This is welcome and it opens up an opportunity for young, trained people to begin a career where they can make a contribution. It is important to give recognition to the contribution medical practitioners make in their local community. Sometimes we tend to ignore their contribution, whether helping out the local rugby club or a GAA club or giving leadership in their communities. They have been very good at doing this and we should give recognition to their efforts.

I raised a number of concerns with the Minister about people in the training process and the perception of a small minority of them that GPs work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday and that coverage at weekends is someone else's problem. The intention and ambition of the vast bulk of people is to serve and work for their patients. A service should be available seven days a week and my colleague, Senator MacSharry, referred to coverage out of hours.

It is also necessary to ensure there is not a watering down of the primary care system, which is important. Too many people attend accident and emergency units when many issues could be dealt with at a local level. GPs have the competence to deal with many of the issues that end up in accident and emergency units. We need to give that assistance to the hospital service to ensure we are not clogging up an already overburdened facility. The number of young people who have contacted us looking for the Bill to be passed at an early date is an indication of the enthusiasm of those who want to provide a service. They have the qualifications and experience and this Bill allows them to provide the service. I thank the Minister for bringing this forward and dealing with it in an timely fashion.