The SouthDoc overnight service in Castletownbere, which serves the people of Ardgroom, Eyeries, Allihies, Adrigole and Glengarriff, as well as Lauragh in south Kerry, has been non-existent for the past six weeks. In spite of numerous communications received from the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, during these weeks indicating that the issue had been resolved, the truth on the ground is that last night there was no out-of-hours doctor service in Castletownbere. It seems the people of the Beara Peninsula will, once again, be without a GP service overnight during the coming weekend. What is wrong here? The only remedy the HSE provided was to send a doctor without a car to cover some nights recently. As there is little or no public transport on our peninsula, the only way we figured this doctor could get to a house if he was called out was to thumb a lift.

This is beyond a joke. Can the Minister imagine the people of Dublin being told today that they would have no out-of-hours doctor service for the weekend ahead? There would be a national outcry and the issue would be resolved in minutes. I ask the Minister to personally intervene in this mess and to provide a full-time out-of-hours SouthDoc service for the people of the Beara Peninsula immediately.

I can imagine the real concern not being able to get a GP out of hours is causing for the people of the Beara Peninsula. From my understanding, we are having difficulty in even getting a GP in many areas, let alone an out-of-hours service. That is a real concern. What is the problem within our health system? Many doctors are qualifying in our universities, at real expense to the State in many cases. It is right that we meet that expense but we are not able to get the number of GPs we need to meet our basic needs, in which I include out-of-hours services for areas such as the Beara Peninsula. I will pass on the details of the specific issue on the Beara Peninsula the Deputy is concerned about because that is the most immediate issue, but there is also a wider strategic question as to why we are finding it so difficult to get GPs to develop their careers and their practices in rural areas.