General Practitioner Services
Dail Éireann — 2022-02-15
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Stephen Donnelly (FF), Wicklow

Yes, I agree. We have to continue with the graduate training posts but we have to go much further than that. I talked to a rural GP from the Deputy's neck of the woods in Waterford a while ago, and she estimated that her maternity leave, which she totally funded herself, will cost her approximately €60,000. This is a brilliant young GP in Waterford. She was considering splitting a GMS list as she wanted to change the balance and pull back, but the rules are not in place to allow her to do that. As a result, she was thinking about moving to Australia. That is just completely unacceptable.
Yes, we need to increase the number of training places, but what I want from the review this year is for us to listen carefully to GPs, at various stages of their lives, to hear what they need to make this a job that would attract them, they would stay in and where they would continue to develop and work with others in a multidisciplinary way.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2022-02-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:50:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2022-02-15