Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 February 2026
666. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Health if she will address the exclusion of some general practices from the revised social deprivation practice grant (details supplied); if she will take urgent steps to amend the way in which deprivation is measured given the serious flaws identified in the current categorisations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13926/26]
View answerThe HSE, Department of Health, GP representatives and representatives of GPs working in areas of deprivation reached agreement in late 2025 to improve the targeting of the social deprivation grant for GPs which has been available since 2020.
The 2019 GP Agreement introduced the grant to support GPs in socially deprived areas to provide additional services. It had been intended that allocation of this grant would be on the basis of a recognised deprivation index but work to do this was not possible in 2020 in the context of the Covid pandemic. Grants were therefore allocated in the years 2020 to 2024 on the basis of applications received from GPs.
It had always been intended that the grant allocation process would use a data analysis approach, based on GEO coding of GP practices and using a recognised deprivation index, in this case Pobal’s HP Deprivation Index which is widely recognised and used. This approach, as noted previously, was agreed with the GP representative body and GPs representing areas of deprivation. It is intended that this cooperative and data-based approach will continue.
