Maria McCormack (Sinn Fein)

There is a lack of GPs in Laois. We have had a large population growth but do not have services, especially GPs, to match this. The national average GP ratio is 1:1,000 but in Laois at the moment the ratio is about 1:1,600. There are large areas in Laois that have no GP. To use the town of Ballickmoyler as an example, it has a population of approximately 1,100 people and hundreds of new houses have been built there. Surrounding areas also feed into it, but there is no GP there. There is no GP in Doonane, Crettyard or The Swan. Large areas of the county are without a GP. Where there are GPs, there are large wait times and extra pressure on our hospitals and out-of-hours services. I call on this House to have a debate about more GPs for County Laois, especially public GPs and not just private GPs.