Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 231: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the terms of the new out of hours general practitioner service for the northside which the Taoiseach has indicated will be in place for 1 September 2006, indicating the main hours of service which have been contracted in, the number of centres from which the service will be delivered and so on. [19529/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Government's policy is to support the further development of GP co-ops so that, ultimately, such services will be available to all of the population. The putting in place of appropriate arrangements for large urban areas, including Dublin, is a particular priority in this regard. The Health Service Executive announced the following on 11 May: "Following a joint initiative by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Irish Medical Organisation, (IMO) negotiations have been ongoing for the past number of weeks with a view to establishing an out-of-hours GP based Co-operative to serve the population of North Dublin. These negotiations have made considerable progress to date and it is anticipated that a successful conclusion will be arrived at in the next few weeks. The agreement will provide for the establishment of an enhanced urgent out-of-hours GP Service commencing in September 2006. The co-operative model in this agreement is based on the model successfully in operation in other parts of the country. The HSE, the IMO and the General Practitioners in North Dublin are committed to enhancing the services available to the population of North Dublin."