Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of GP shortages throughout the country. In recent months, I have been receiving calls from people in my home county of Longford to see if I could assist them in securing GP services. They told me they had contacted GPs around the county and had been told by most of them that they are not taking any more clients. I have cases of people who are actually travelling to Dublin to see a GP as they are unable to register for one in their own home county, or even in the surrounding counties. As we can imagine, this involves booking time off work and possibly getting public transport in certain circumstances.

As we know, during Covid, and with the move to remote working, many people have chosen to move to rural Ireland. However, the simple request of getting a GP is becoming impossible. While the shortage of GPs in the country has been an ongoing issue for a number of years, the strain of Covid has added to the burden for general practices.We also do not want to see GPs getting burnt out and maybe lose GPs to other countries, which has happened in the past, not for more money but rather to have a better work-life balance.

For a long time now, GPs have been calling for urgent action to address the shortage of doctors in general practice as they deal with an overwhelming workload. The working conditions are very difficult at present and many of us now find that a number of GPs have their practices closed. One now has to wait longer to get to see a doctor, in some cases a day and in some circumstances up to a week. We have a growing population and figures show that we are not producing the required number of GPs we need. That has an impact on the services that we are able to provide and on locum cover for annual leave and sick leave also. Recent figures from the Irish College of General Practitioners estimate that of the approximately 4,700 GPs currently working in the State, 700 will retire over the next five years while only 350 GP training places are planned for 2026. The Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, states many parts of rural Ireland are being impacted by a shortage and the problem will only get worse as more doctors retire.

I also want to raise the issue of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association, IABA. We had them before the joint Oireachtas committee last week. We had the situation at the weekend where the Leinster Council organised its underage championships, then the IABA itself decided to organise the same championships and we had two Leinster Boxing Championships taking place in two different counties. My own opinion is that a massive change needs to be made within that organisation. I would like the Minister of State, Deputy Jack Chambers, to intervene. As I say, we have this situation where people box and are being told that they are not insured, yet they have paid their insurance, all because of disagreements at central council and provincial council level. The time has come for the Minister of State to intervene for the good and betterment of boxing in this country.