Keith Swanick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I echo the points made about the drug Spinraza. I also echo the comments of Senator Conway-Walsh on coastal erosion in the Erris region. I put some harrowing footage on my social media pages last week. It was very scary and hopefully the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, will visit us on the topic.

I have raised the restoration of the FEMPI cuts and the general practice contract many times before. FEMPI has destroyed general practice, particularly in remote areas and in deprived urban areas. It is not possible to take €2 billion out of general practice without it having devastating effects on the health service. Every €1 spent in primary care saves €5 in the rest of the health service. Almost 12 months ago, in November 2017, the Minister for Health signalled his intention to commence the reversal of the FEMPI cuts to GPs and announced that he would engage with GP representative bodies next year with the aim of establishing a new contract and an approach to multi-annual fees in 2019. I ask the Leader to ask the Minister, following his announcement last year that he would engage with GP representative bodies, how many meetings or engagements he has had and what progress there has been. In a response to Deputy Harty in August, the Minister said he had had only two face-to-face meetings with the IMO representatives this year and none with the NAGP. The NAGP has been excluded thus far and I want to see genuine action on these talks. They are emergency talks because general practice has been decimated over the past number of years. I want there to be inclusion to ensure the talks succeed and that means the NAGP being at the table.