Regrettably, I have to raise this issue for a second time. It relates to Dr. Booth, who has taken over a GMS contract for two surgeries servicing Lanesborough and the larger Longford town in County Longford. It is now very clear in the satellite town of Lanesborough that there is a concerted effort to close the Lanesborough surgery and maintain a five-day, walk-in service in Longford town. The matter has been continuously raised by local councillor, Sean Mimnagh.

Dr. Booth was given the GMS contract for Longford town and also for Lanesborough, which is ten miles away. In fairness, the doctor has responded to specific concerns via a response from the HSE, but I have to say those responses are not satisfactory. To his credit, the responses are skilfully crafted, and if you were not familiar with the situation, you would say there is nothing wrong here, move along. However, that simply is not true. The entire Lanesborough community is aggrieved and feels that it is now being used as a mere pawn.

The doctor says he is operating a centralised appointment booking service and was forced to cancel the Lanesborough clinic on the last three Fridays as there were no appointments on two Fridays, and on the third Friday, there was just one patient looking for an appointment. I find it incomprehensible that there was no demand for a surgery in Lanesborough on a Friday, coinciding with pension day and arguably the busiest day of the week in the Shannonside town. Patients tell me that, in many cases, they are not given the option of booking the surgery in Lanesborough, but instead are being encouraged to attend the Longford clinic.

I would be more than happy if Dr. Booth wants to continue his five-day service in Longford, but it cannot be at the expense of a rural surgery. The two pharmacies in the town are very much dependent on that GP surgery. I ask the HSE to revisit the contract, let Dr. Booth continue in Longford and re-advertise the Lanesborough section of the contract for the specified hours. We cannot have a situation where GPs are simply cherry-picking the aspects of a contract that are more profitable or better suit them. If we permit this, we are failing our patients and our communities. The consultants at the Rotunda were quickly brought to heel when they were not complying with their contractual obligations. It is critical that we do not allow this situation to continue any longer in Lanesborough. A contract is a contract, as I said. What we are seeing here is a concerted effort to close a rural surgery by stealth. We simply cannot allow it to happen.

I remind Members about public utterances and, obviously, the balance between the public good and the right of individuals, and to make sure that we do not cause injury or harm as they are not here to defend themselves. However, the public good is of the utmost importance to all Senators in their contributions in the Chamber.