Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a dhéanamh le clann John Kelly tar éis an bás sa chlann sin.

By Senator Mullins's measure, Sinn Féin must be the only party in touch with the people, therefore, under his guidance, I believe I can speak authoritatively this afternoon. It is important that we would a full debate on the issues around the Department of Justice and Equality at present and particularly on the functioning of the Garda. There is no point in trying to play it down, there is a massive level of unrest about this. The Seanad needs to have a debate on these issues and I would support that.

To return to an issue which is very much i mbéal an phobail and is very important, last week we saw an unprecedented meeting take place in Galway. Up to 200 GPs called Members of the Oireachtas to a meeting to voice their concerns over the current draft contract for those under-six years of age that has been put forward by the Minister for Health. They raised a number of serious issues and wanted us to listen to their arguments. I was very concerned in particular about the situation of rural GPs. They find it very difficult to get people who are willing to take up a position as a GP in a rural area and those rural GPs who are in practice find it very difficult to maintain the level of service that is needed in those areas. There are serious concerns around the proposals.

The GPs also drew attention to the fact that the FEMPI legislation has had a massive impact on them. The calculation was made not only on the salaries of the doctors in question but on the full amount of the grant given to the doctors to run their GP services. That coupled with the fall in the number of people with medical cards in some areas is exacerbating the situation. The GPs maintain the resources are being cut back for the work they need to do, that the number of consultations will increase, that we will see waiting lists in general practice and that GPs are going to become bureaucrats rather than doctors.

Another big issue is that a gagging clause, as they call it, is going to be put into the contract. A debate around GP services around the country would be very welcome. It would be a good way of our being able to raise some of the issues that have been brought to our attention by the IMO and GPs.

We call on the Minister to engage in meaningful negotiation to sort out this issue.