Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)

I will absolutely request such a review. The Senator is right. SouthDoc has its own management structures and board. The HSE has very little input into its day-to-day running but it does fund the service so it must expect an appropriate level of service. The Senator gave a good lesson on the geography of Kerry. I am familiar enough with north Kerry. It is very similar to west Cork in many ways in that it is huge geographically. You have got peninsulas and inlets, so it is geographically awkward and requires a bespoke approach to out-of-hours services. In some instances where patients find it difficult to go to the SouthDoc centre, the idea of GPs being driven out to visit homes can work. For example, where an older person would find it difficult to make the journey, that can work. I take the Senator's general point and will go back to the Department of Health and the Minister to ask for a review as soon as possible.