Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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174. To ask the Minister for Health if she will consider establishing a 24/7 Shannon Doc service in Thurles, County Tipperary, considering only one 24/7 Shannon Doc service currently operates in Nenagh, County Tipperary for the entire population of north Tipperary within the mid-west region; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9753/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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GPs are private practitioners. The majority of GPs provide services to patients with a Medical Card or a GP Visit Card through the GMS contract. Under the terms of the GMS contract, GPs are obliged to make arrangements to ensure patient care on a 24/7 basis. The majority do this through the GP Out of Hours Cooperatives, which are private organisations run by GPs themselves to meet their contractual obligation.

The operation of specific aspects of the Out of Hours Services is a service matter, and in relation to this aspect I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.