Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I again apologise to Senator Fintan Warfield. I was not listening properly when the Cathaoirleach called him.

I refer to the report, A Future Together: Building a Better GP and Primary Care Service, which was launched yesterday at Trinity College Dublin. It is a very comprehensive report that highlights a number of crucial issues. I know that there will be statements on health care tomorrow, but this is a matter that needs to be prioritised. We are spending approximately 4.5% of the total health budget on GPs and primary care services when we should, in fact, be spending twice that figure. We have been dealing with the issue of a new GP contract for quite some time.It is a matter that should be prioritised. There are a number of other matters in the report that clearly identify where we need to prioritise actions. We have the Sláintecare report, but there must be a combination of everybody working to bring about change. I do not understand the prioritisation that has occurred over the past two to three years. The Health Service Executive took on an additional 2,000 administration and managerial staff while we seem to have made no progress in dealing with the GP matter. It is something to which we need to attach priority and we need answers from both the Department and the Minister. It should not be left to continue ad infinitum without any final decision on the matter. I hope that tomorrow when we deal with the statements there might be some clarification. I look forward to it. It is something I will revisit and there is clear evidence from this report published yesterday of the need to prioritise this matter to build a better health service for everyone.