On prevailing side: this member voted with the winning side in 439 of 441 decisive votes (2 abstentions excluded). Read it as a government-or-opposition indicator rather than a measure of influence — the figure is near 100% for members supporting the government of the day and near 0% for those opposing it.
This is the point of the site: contributions keep the party held on the day, not the one held now.
| Party | Recorded as | Contributions | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| FG | Fine Gael | 5,748 | 2020-02-20 – 2024-09-18 |
Membership spells on record: FG 2007-05-24–2011-02-01 · FG 2011-02-25–2016-03-09 · FG 2016-03-10–2020-01-14 · FG 2020-02-08–2024-11-08
I did not tell anyone, or at least I have no recollection of telling anyone, but in doing so, as I said earlier, I was following on from a Government commitment that we would keep the NAGP informed and involved in all of this.
Actually, no I am not.
I am sure I could have found that out, but I was not aware of it.
That is a good question and I cannot answer it for sure. The NAGP, in its statement the other day, said that it had monthly meetings with the HSE and the Department of Health. The Department of Health says otherwise - that there were not meetings in 2018 or 2019, so we will have to get to the bottom of that obviously, but none of the meetings would have involved me. Again, the commitment was there in the Government memo in 2018, and in the commitments of the then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, to the joint Oir…
The Department of Health and the HSE were involved in this too. The NAGP in its statement say there were monthly meetings on the chronic disease package. The Department of Health says that there was a prolonged period where there were no meetings. I am not sure what the HSE is saying. What I can say is that there was a public commitment given by the Minister for Health and by me that the National Association of General Practitioners, NAGP, would be informed, involved and consulted. If it was not, then it should hav…
In fairness the Minister for Justice is the Minister for Justice and she would have had no involvement in this. It would not be fair to expect her to know everything about it or to be aware of all the details. That is not a fair proposition that the Deputy is putting forward. My defence is not about how many meetings were held between the NAGP, the HSE and the Department of Health. My defence is that there was a Government decision to formally consult and involve the NAGP and to keep it informed and up to date. We …
Any agreement, even when it is done and passed by Cabinet, can be amended. We all know that. Agreements can be made and one can come back, amend them subsequently and they can be subject to change. I have put the records out there for the information of the House tonight. Engagement was concluded - it says that in the Government memo - on 3 April. The details were publicly announced on 4 April. It was launched by the HSE on 6 April, publicly announced and endorsed by me and the then Minister, Deputy Harris, on the …
I gave it on a confidential basis to Maitiú Ó Tuathail, as president of the NAGP. He shared it with some people in the NAGP but certainly did not publish it or decide to circulate it. It was a document that I had and gave to somebody in confidence. I explained why I did earlier, that I wanted to see if we could get the NAGP on side and make sure it did not oppose this agreement like it had in 2015. It was an attempt to get it on board. I know the Deputy will keep going back to the point that Maitiú Ó Tuathail was m…
Please, let me finish.
I trained as a GP. I had lots of friends who are GPs and I still do. I did not give the document to my friends who are GPs. I only gave it to one person because he was president of the NAGP, not because he was my friend.
No.
I did not contact any other Ministers about it. The query did not come to me about it at all, actually. An email, however, was sent to our office asking if I had ever given the document to another doctor or an associate. We did not reply to the query.
Not that I am aware of.
Again, the Deputy is asking me about contacts between the then Minister, Deputy Harris, and Maitiú Ó Tuathail-----
I would not be surprised. It would be entirely normal for the president of the NAGP to ask the Minister.
I am aware because I saw this tweet published somewhere in the last hour. That is the only reason I am aware of it.
Deputy, I can answer questions about my actions, not-----
I do not have that in front at the moment. I asked him for his home address and I sent the document to him in the post. I do not have the exact time.
The Deputy is reading out tweets or WhatsApp messages that were put on the Internet in the last hour or so that are not from me. They are between other people. I cannot account for that. I can account for the ones from me.
Once again, I am very happy to answer any questions he may have about my actions. I cannot answer questions about the actions of the then Minister, Deputy Harris, or the actions of Dr. Ó Tuathail. I can only answer for myself.