Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. Dar ndóigh, tacaím leis an reachtaíocht seo. I would also like to welcome the Minister of State.

This is welcome legislation. The extension of the GP visit card to these categories of people is a welcome development, and the Minister of State has spoken clearly about the importance of carers to us as a community. I speak from personal experience, like many others here. I live with a person who is being cared for by my mother. Everything the Minister of State said about the need to care for carers resonates strongly with me. It relates to the interconnection of the physical, emotional and mental needs of carers and the inevitable stretch on the welfare of the primary caregiver that can make a dramatic difference in people's lives.

The carer's allowance is a means-tested payment extended to 77,000 people on low incomes. As countless reports and investigations in recent years have indicated, these people are under enormous physical, emotional and financial pressure as they care for loved ones. Many of us watched the "Prime Time" special on this topic last December. It shocked many people, showing as it did the problems faced by carers in stark terms. I fully support the move to grant GP visit cards to people on the carer's benefit or the full-time or half-time carer's' allowance.

However, in light of the concerns expressed by Family Carers Ireland and no doubt expressed to the Minister of State personally, does the legislation go far enough? Family Carers Ireland points to a larger cohort of people, those in receipt of the carer's support grant. The grant is not means-tested and it results in a €1,700 annual payment to 105,000 people. There are many people in receipt of that grant who do not qualify for the carer's allowance due to their income exceeding the means test., yet, in many cases, their need for additional supports may be just as urgent. Would the Government consider extending the GP visit card to this cohort of people as well. It is a larger cohort; it would no doubt cost extra were it to happen. I do not know whether it has been costed or how much is envisaged. The proposal before the Seanad will cost €10 million per annum. How much more would it cost to extend the GP visit card to those in receipt of the carer's support grant, formerly the respite care grant? How much is involved? Is it within the Government's plans? Does the Minister of State think it will happen, and if so will it happen soon?

We also have to be mindful of the problems facing GPs, even as we seek to widen access to GP visit cards. The NAGP has pointed out that GP practices are badly stretched, with widespread reports of people having difficulty finding a GP to take them on as patients. The president of the NAGP, Dr. Maitiu O'Tuathail, spoke eloquently about these problems during the recent referendum campaign, as the Government sought to place even more pressure on GPs through the new abortion proposals. His predecessor as president, Dr. Andrew Jordan, said that GP services could be as extinct as the Tasmanian tiger unless the Government intervened. The Minister for Health has repeatedly said that GP services should be at the heart of a new community-based system of healthcare, but where is the investment to make that aspiration a reality? The scheme proposed in the Bill, and any extension of this scheme in the future, which I would strongly support, must be accompanied by a significant rethink of the way GP services are resourced currently and in the future.