John Gilroy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Senator Crown gives a good description of the services provided by the GPs and there is not a single person on this or any side of the House who does not agree with virtually everything he says on this. I would be inclined to go a little further and say that the services offered by GPs are pivotal because they are the gatekeepers of the services.

Senator Colm Burke referred to a meeting of 350 GPs which took place in Cork earlier in the year. I was at that meeting. I went further, to another meeting in Tralee where there were another 85 GPs present and I listened carefully to their concerns. Senator Crown seems to outline clearly and succinctly the concerns expressed by the GPs with regard to the proposed new contract. However, we cannot support Senator Crown because what is in the legislation and what is in the contract are two different things, and we are talking about the legislation here today.

Amendments Nos. 1 to 7, inclusive, as proposed by Senator Crown, would have the effect of binding the Minister's ability to negotiation the new contract and we must remember that the Minister is the upholder of the public interest here as well. Either as a legislator here in the House or in the other part of my life where I spent ten years as a trade union negotiator in the health service, I have never come across a proposal to so bind a Minister. I have never seen either the necessity or the desirability of including the amendments that Senator Crown proposes in legislation.

While I would share most of his concerns with regard to the negotiation of a new contract, both separate issues, restraining the Minister in his negotiations with a third party with regard to their contract is not what we would like.