General Practitioner Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-05
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Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (FG), Dún Laoghaire

Let me be very clear in relation to the recruitment. Any delay should only be in actually finding the consultant orthodontist and bringing them into the system. That does take time because people have to leave posts and so on but there should not be any delay at a HSE level recognising the level of need I have described to the Deputy and have described more broadly.
In relation to GPs generally, we have expanded the training programmes and the numbers again and again. We do want them to work. We cannot force them to work as GPs in Ireland and we cannot force them to work in the public health system but that is what we want. Again, I think it is time to reflect on the level of investment that we put into training medical practitioners on behalf of the State. It is such a privilege to be able to do that and not charge the fees that would be charged in any other country to train as a medical practitioner and the opportunity that it gives people. We spoke about with dentists and spending a period in the public system. We want to develop a cohort of public GPs. There is no question about that, and we have to think about the ways in which we give people the opportunity, or make it a requirement, to spend time in the public service to get the benefit of that particular model.
In relation to out of hours, it is really important to reflect on that, particularly in rural Ireland and where it can be more difficult to get to somebody that you need. I was reflecting on Cork in particular in anticipation of the Deputy's question. In relation to Kanturk and Mallow, for example, there were issues going back in 2023 and 2024 that the Deputy will be aware of better than I in relation to Kanturk and Macroom treatment services. The HSE did engage with SouthDoc on the matter, which confirmed that the centres were to be available by appointment only. It has been improved somewhat. I am now aware that there is an on duty doctor physically present in the Mallow treatment centre each weekday night, which is important. They can see routine patients provide telephone clinical advice and travel to locations such as Kanturk to provide home visits. That is the support that is necessary in addition to a second doctor in situ at weekends in public hospitals. We do need that out of hours facility, as Deputy Daly has highlighted. We need to continue to make sure that this is part of the GP offering.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-05/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:44+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-05