Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 132: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children if her attention has been drawn to the continuing significant increase in general practitioner fees; if her attention has further been drawn to the fact that some general practitioners in Dublin recently increased their fees from €40 to €50; her plans to impose limits on the amounts that general practitioners may charge for consultations or home visits in view of the financial strain that these fees may put on low income families who do not have a medical card; if her Department retains any statistics on the fees charged by general practitioners; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27383/05]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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Consultation fees charged to private patients by general practitioners are a matter of private contract between the two parties, the doctor as the service provider and the patient as the user. I have no role in the setting of these fees. However, I will ask my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, to consider whether the Competition Authority or the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs may have any role in relation to the level of fees charged for GP services.

The recent agreement reached between the parties on the labour relations commission's recommendation of June 2005 will allow the Health Service Executive to proceed with the introduction of GP visit cards which will enable 200,000 people to have free access to general practitioner services under the general medical services scheme. Applications for assessments for eligibility to GP visit cards are being processed at present by the HSE.