When will the White Paper on universal health insurance be published? I note from the programme for Government that universal health insurance is to be introduced by 2016, but the legislative and organisational groundwork for the system is to be completed during the Government's term of office.

We have not had a White Paper yet. Will it be published before the end of the session?

Universal primary care will remove fees for GP care. When can we expect the universal primary care Bill which it is envisaged will remove fees for all GP care? When will discussions on the new GP contract begin?

Will the Taoiseach give an update on the consumer and competition Bill? Various commitments have been made on it. The Ministers, Deputies Bruton and Rabbitte, have territorial differences on it.

The Taoiseach has indicated the health service plan will be published tomorrow. Will he afford any opportunity on Thursday or tomorrow for debate on this in the House given the fact it relates to the budget? We were given certain figures in the budget which were clearly false and do not stand up. Will the Taoiseach give the Government time to debate the health service plan in plenary session in the House?

It will be published tomorrow. On Thursday we will have an adoption Bill which deals with an extension of time for the 22 or 23 people involved in Russian adoptions. This is an issue which must be dealt with. We will also deal with the Water Services (No. 2) Bill and the Pyrite Resolution Bill. I will have the Whips examine it. I do not know whether we could have initial statements from the main spokespersons.

The consumer and competition Bill will be published at the start of the next session. It is practically finalised.

Delayed again.

It is a bit behind. Much of the pressure on the parliamentary counsel system was because of the requirements of the troika. There might be a little more flexibility to deal with these now.

I thought universal health insurance might have been in before the end of this session but it will not. It will also be in the next session. Today the Government approved the Minister to go ahead with the preparation of legislation for free GP care for children under the age of five as part of a process to phase in universal health insurance, as committed to in the programme for Government. We are committed on a phased basis to a universal GP service by 2016 as a precursor for universal health insurance.

With regard to the GP contract, the Department of Health and the HSE are examining the changes which need to be made to the GMS contract to facilitate the introduction of universal primary care. This contract will focus on prevention and will include a requirement for GPs to provide care as part of integrated multidisciplinary primary care teams. The formation of these new contracts will have regard to the constraints of Irish and EU competition law, particularly with regard to setting fees and allowances. The Minister of State, Deputy White, who has responsibility for primary care met the IMO earlier this year and outlined the Government's policy on universal health insurance. All of these will be briefed the coming weeks.

Have talks on the contract been initiated?

Yes and they will all be briefed in the coming weeks on developments and progress made with the contract.