The Minister will be aware that over recent years there has been a growing shortage of GPs, to the point where it can only be described as a crisis. The Irish College of General Practitioners, ICGP, has found that 700 GPs will retire in the next five years. An ICGP poll this month shows that 60% of approximately 900 GPs surveyed were full to capacity or beyond. What precise steps is the Minister taking to address this issue to ensure that we have adequate levels of staff in primary care?

I thank the Minister. I wonder if he is listening to what graduates and trainees are saying because a huge proportion of them intend to emigrate. We do not have to guess at the reasons for that. We know from the regular ICGP survey that issues such as too many clinical sessions, onerous workload, management responsibilities and traditional responsibilities are unattractive. GPs are no longer prepared to work long hours. They want flexibility and better quality of life. Will the Minister accept that there is a probl…

The figures mentioned by the Minister are fine but the HSE claims that we need to have 250 training places every year for new GPs. I asked the Minister if he has any proposals with regard to the career structure. References to salaried GPs and the type of flexibility so many new GPs are looking for were seen as a threat to existing GPs. This does not have to be a threat. There is no problem with leaving existing GPs doing the business the way they are doing it, in some cases single-handedly in long-established GP p…

This week most people were deeply disturbed and moved to learn about the plight of Adam Terry, a ten-year-old little boy who is living in agony because he has been waiting for more than four years for scoliosis surgery. Adam is not the only child who is suffering. This week I was contacted by the mother of a six-year-old girl, Rosie. She is desperately trying to get treatment for her daughter. Rosie was born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus and has been diagnosed with epilepsy and scoliosis. She is a full-time w…

Four years ago the Tánaiste's Government gave a commitment that no child would have to wait more than four months for scoliosis surgery. Four years later, what is that target now? I take it the Tánaiste is not in a position to recommit to his earlier target, which was never met. What now is the target for children with scoliosis, who are in agony? How many theatres are available and for how many hours per week to address these shocking waiting lists? In the case of Rosie, we were told her operation was cancelled be…

It is regrettable that not a single Cabinet Minister is present in the Chamber for the debate. Apart from being disrespectful, it is a disgrace that nobody had the time to participate in the debate and to come in here and listen to what those of us on this side of the House have to say about the budget. It is wrong. The budget has been billed as an effort by the Government to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, which everyone agrees is completely out of control. How accurate is this assessment? If we peel away the bl…

I move amendment No. 1: “To delete the words ‘9th day of January, 2022’ and to substitute the words ‘22nd day of October, 2021’ therefor.”. The purpose of the amendment is to try to reach a compromise in this regard. We are all very concerned about the extent of the emergency powers that the Government took upon itself over the past couple of years when responding to the pandemic. Many of us were very clear about expressing our concerns and certainly on the last occasion we debated this legislation, I and others ex…

There is an astonishing story in The Irish Times today on which we urgently need further information. It transpires the Attorney General, Paul Gallagher, has been carrying on private legal work since he was appointed by the Government in June 2020. According to the article, Mr. Gallagher is acting for the former directors of Independent News & Media, INM, now known as Mediahuis Ireland, after INM was taken over by a Belgian company, in their dealings with High Court inspectors who are investigating the company. Wha…

Was his private work included in this statement? Of further huge importance is that the Attorney General's office instructs barristers for State work, which is often quite lucrative. Does the Tánaiste accept therefore that it is grossly inappropriate that the Attorney General would be engaged in private work? How would a barrister feel upon learning the opposing counsel is the Attorney General, whose office can make or break careers?

Does the Tánaiste see that there are serious problems with this?

Does the Tánaiste accept that there is a huge potential conflict of interest here? It is news to me, and probably to other people, that there have been other such cases. What about the previous period when Mr. Gallagher was the Attorney General? Did he carry on private work at that stage? Will the Tánaiste be a bit more specific about how this decision was reached? Was it a Cabinet decision? Was it recorded, and who provided the legal advice on it? The Tánaiste said he does not have the detail on this. Surely Mr. G…

Sticking with the issue of the Attorney General, given that the Tánaiste was not provided with details of other private cases that Mr. Gallagher was involved in, how can he possibly state that there would not be a conflict of interest? This type of situation arises regularly for barristers, and the standard approach is for them to hand over a case to a colleague. That happens commonly. One has to wonder why a case such as the one in question, which involves the State's corporate watchdog investigating the largest m…

The Tánaiste cannot really say that, though.

I am sure when the lights go out people will remember the points the Deputy made today.

When people think about the main drivers of climate change they generally think of things like burning fossil fuels, deforestation and single-use plastics, but rarely do they think about or give adequate consideration to the role that data centres play, despite their environmental cost. This is partly because we have become so accustomed to the idea of the cloud where our data are said to exist. However, this metaphor fails to reflect the reality of brick-and-mortar data centres and their huge carbon footprint. Ire…

There was a two-hour debate on it this morning.

I commend Deputy Cullinane on a very good, detailed and timely motion tonight, providing an opportunity to take stock of the state of our health service. We have had many accounts this evening of the shortcomings in our health service. Various people read out letters outlining the incredible difficulties people are having in accessing healthcare. It is important to take a bit of time to listen to another letter which was delivered to every home in England in 1948 about the new National Health Service. It reads as f…

In a couple of weeks' time, the Minister will come into this Chamber to announce his budget proposals. It is highly likely the Department of Health will again be awarded record levels of funding, potentially in the region of €22 billion. Given the crisis caused by Covid and the more than 900,000 people now on hospital waiting lists, this level of funding is undoubtedly required. The Social Democrats will support that funding commitment if and when it comes. However, the Social Democrats differ from the Government i…

Sláintecare is an incremental ten-year programme. It is supposed to start in year 1 and build every year from then. It seems the Minister is joining his Cabinet colleagues, in particular, the Minster for Health, in downplaying the seriousness of the crisis that now exists with Sláintecare. He refused to engage in the fundamental problems, namely, the institutional resistance to the introduction of accountability for the provision of health services and accountability for the spending of that massive budget that is …

We must hear the truth in this matter and we must have political will and political leadership from the Government. If not, Sláintecare will not succeed.