Vol. 554 No. 5
974 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason the development of general practitioner co-operatives in Cork city and county are in a state of limbo despite the fact that all details of plans and costings have been submitted to his Department. [15772/02]
Applications for funding for general practitioner out of hours co-operatives are made to my Department by the health boards in the context of their overall service plans for a given year. A total of €17.2 million was made available in 2002 alone for the development of out of hours co-operatives, of which €2.59 million was allocated to the Southern Health Board. All decisions in relation to the geographical areas to be covered by co-operatives and the order of their commencement are matters for the relevant health board to make, having due regard to the range of financial and other issues involved. My Department will pursue the continuing expansion of co-operatives in 2003 in the context of the Estimates process.
