Vol. 552 No. 1
417 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if his Department will investigate reports that it was political influence rather than medical planning that allowed the funding of South Doc to be set up by the Southern Health Board rather than the Doctor Co-operative in Cork City and the surrounding areas. [12035/02]
An application for funding for the out of hours general practitioner co-operative in the west Cork-Kerry area was made to my Department by the Southern Health Board in 2001 as part of the development of GP co-operatives. This proposal was submitted as a result of correspondence between my Department and the health boards during 2000 when applications were sought for co-operative funding. Funding in the amount of £630,000 was allocated in 2001 and €2.589 million in 2002 to the Southern Health Board for the purpose of general practitioner co-operative development. Information from the board states that at that time there was no other detailed submission from any other group of general practitioners in the board's area.
