Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I understand.

I would like a debate on the rural practice allowance, a payment of approximately €17,000 to general practitioners who establish their practices in rural areas, provided for under the Health Act 1970. The public benefit associated with this is obvious. Many older people living in rural areas face substantial difficulties in accessing health care resources, as other Members know better than I. The rural practice allowance is designed to offset costs which a doctor faces associated with a rural practice. The HSE has reduced this payment by approximately €5,000 since 2005, with the result that it is increasingly difficult to attract doctors to establish a practice in a rural area. I have been contacted by a doctor in a rural part of east Galway who told me that, in his view, the HSE has adopted a deliberate policy of delaying the payment to doctors. He has spoken to his colleagues and they report similar difficulties in being paid the allowance.

We often speak about decline in rural areas and small towns. Let me be very clear here. The chief evil complained about by rural dwellers is the withdrawal of services and the chief agent responsible for the withdrawal of services is Government. Post offices, rural schools, Garda stations, health services have been closed. Again and again, Government policy has been responsible for eroding the quality of life in rural Ireland. It is increasingly difficult, if not virtually impossible, to convince young doctors to situate in rural areas and rural dwellers suffer the obvious consequence of that by not having access to a GP service.

I call on the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar, to direct the HSE to promptly pay the rural practice allowance to GPs in rural communities. I would also like the Minister to investigate whether there is a deliberate policy of delaying payments as some kind of money saving scheme.