Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join my colleague, Senator Gavan, in his tribute to Liam O'Flynn and the contribution he made to Irish music over a long number of years. He is a huge loss. It is important that we give recognition to those who have made a major contribution in the promotion of Irish music over a long period.

I have raised with the Leader on a number of previous occasions my concerns regarding the issue of the GP contract. I welcome that the Minister for Health has announced that the negotiations for a new contract are to start in April but I would hope that this is not another process ad infinitum. The contract has been in place for over 40 years. We need to progress the issue of how GPs are supported in the community and, as a result of their contribution, how they support people in communities and keep them out of hospital. On the Commencement debate earlier, I raised the need to train and upskill people in the context of providing home care. Likewise, we need to ensure that we have a sufficient number of GPs - working together with public health nurses, community nurses and those who provide home care - to provide care in the community and keep as many as possible out of the hospital and nursing home systems.Although it will not happen before Easter, I suggest that it might be timely to have a debate after Easter on community care and health care outside the hospital structure. All of our focus has been on the hospital structure and the HSE. It is something we should really consider doing.

In respect of priorities, I am concerned that staffing levels in the HSE have gone up by 11,000 in the last three years. There is now nearly one new person in administration or management in the HSE for every general practitioner in the country. That is a disproportionate growth in administration and management in the HSE.