Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am not going to speculate on numbers of GPs. Instead, I am going to encourage, in every way possible, the parties involved to conclude an agreement. I have every confidence in GPs and their representative body and I believe we will be able to deliver this service in the autumn with good will on all sides. I believe there will be a sufficient number of GPs to do so. There will be capacity issues in the system as we move on from the under-sixes that will have to be addressed. This will be done in the negotiations with the IMO.

The question as to how many will sign up to this is somewhat academic because we have not yet made a single contract offering to any GP yet. There is only a draft contract to drive the process but no actual contract has yet been sent out. We are some distance off this but we are getting closer.