Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to make a number of points on the Bill. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the issue facilitated by Senator Crown and colleagues who put forward the Bill. The legislation serves a purpose, particularly in light of the fact that many regional hospitals struggle to either retain consultants who are about to retire or recruit new consultants. This is a particular issue in my own county of Donegal which has a number of consultant posts that are vacant. It has been extremely difficult to recruit new consultants to fill the posts which is probably due to the geographical location and other factors.

The Bill has merit. Ireland has an ageing population but so do all OECD countries. Demographics are also changing and there is a demand for increased health care across the western world. As a result of increased ageing and demand for health care we must allow people who have specialist expertise that they have built up over a long number of years an opportunity or option to remain in their positions.

The Minister has outlined his concerns and signalled his intention to table amendments at a later date. The general thrust of the Bill must be welcomed. I think the legislation is a good piece of work. All of the Senators will welcome a debate on the Government's amendments.

There are significant difficulties in the health service at the moment and I have mentioned consultant posts. A survey was carried out by the Irish College of General Practitioners as recently as May of this year. It outlined that there is a severe shortage of general practitioners and that the situation in Ireland is likely to get worse. The college outlined that 18 GP posts were vacant as of May of this year with some posts being vacant for up to three years, which is a particular issue in the west of Ireland. There are posts vacant in the Taoiseach's constituency in Mayo. Over 20% of GPs are over the age of 60 and almost one in three are over the age of 55. There is a difficulty because one in eight trained GPs plan to emigrate post qualification with 25% or thereabouts undecided. All of this is due to the fact that they can see that there are greater job opportunities abroad.Flexibility in that regard, allowing GPs to remain where they wish to do so and there are no obstacles, must be welcomed.

From a societal perspective, populations are ageing across the world and the health of individuals is improving, so why not allow people to work longer? I know the Minister's Department would have the most up-to-date departmental and OECD figures in that regard. If people are living longer, surely they should be allowed work longer if they wish to do so and if there are no obstacles from the employer side. It would serve both employer and employee well, and it would also help when we consider the pension crisis coming down the tracks. There are many advantages to allowing those with specialised expertise, in particular, remain in employment.

I hope the debate will not end today. A general election is on the horizon and it would be brilliant to see this piece of legislation adopted by the House, going through all Stages to Report Stage and beyond ahead of that election. I ask the Minister to facilitate that and I hope the Leader will do it as well, so Senator Crown's Bill can see the light of day, so to speak. There would be societal benefit from his ideas. It is only natural that no Minister could accept the Bill as it reads and there are caveats that would have to be addressed by the Department. That is understood. I hope it will not just sit here after being accepted today but rather that it will be moved forward, with the work brought to the Bill by Senator Crown and his colleagues fully recognised.