It is no secret that there is a shortage of general practitioner services in many parts of Ireland and my constituency of Louth and east Meath is no different. Not a week goes by without constituents coming into my constituency office begging for medical access. The Louth GP shortage has left patients in Drogheda facing a two-year wait to register with a local doctor. Just this week, I have one constituent waiting since February and at least three others waiting weeks to access a GP panel. Not only are these constituents being told by local GPs they do not have the capacity to take them in the short term, but GPs cannot even give an assurance that they will be able to increase capacity in the future.

In February, a survey of 275 registered GPs nationwide conducted by the Irish Independent revealed that more than 50% of GPs cannot accept new patients. There is no doubt that right across the country, particularly in rural areas, we are watching the slow demise of health services, despite hundreds of millions being added to the national health budget. The Tánaiste emphasised that there has been much work on primary care, which is a cornerstone. Can the Minister for Health please answer the question about the shortage of GPs?

I do not want to incur the wrath of Job again so I will keep it to 60 seconds. We are aware that in some parts of the country, we do not have enough GPs. In response, over the last number of years, we have tripled the number of training places. Now, for every GP who is leaving practice and retiring, two new GPs are coming in. We have augmented that with international GPs using an international programme through the Irish College of General Practitioners. Year on year, the number of GPs is increasing. It will take time for that to be felt right across the country. We are now well on our way to addressing the real concerns the Deputy raised.