Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I compliment and congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Colm Burke on his appointment and wish him well. I would not be putting this issue down at all today if I had received replies from the HSE to the questions I asked weeks ago. It is disgraceful the way this House is being treated by Ministers, Departments and the HSE when we table parliamentary questions. I am a Member of the Parliament and I should get my replies in a reasonable time. I want to put that on the record of the House today.

The second issue I want to raise is the lack of progress on the Ballyhaunis primary care centre, PCC. This was to be completed in October 2020 but works are at a standstill since 2021. I understand the scaffolding is still on the site, which is a health and safety issue. Ballyhaunis urgently requires its primary care centre. To be fair, there were four promised at the time when James Reilly was Minister. Castlebar has one, as have Westport, Ballinrobe and Claremorris. The only one that is not completed is Ballyhaunis. It is a very diverse, multicultural town now and there are more non-residents in the town than there are Irish people. The time has come and I want to know from the Minister today what is happening, when it is going to be finished, what is happening with the builder and why the Government is not stepping in. It did it for the children's hospital in Dublin. Why are those in the west always second-class citizens? I will give another example. We had a girl in our town last week and a girl from Roscommon who both won European gold medals. RTÉ did not come to Westport but if it was bad news, RTÉ "bad news" would be down straight away with loads of cameras.

Coming back to this issue, it is very important to the people of Ballyhaunis. They have been waiting for their health centre for a long time. Alma Gallagher has been pushing this for the past year. She has been trying to get answers out of the HSE but just cannot get them. Today I want to know from the Minister what is happening. When are we going to see builders back on site? When are we going to see the primary care centre finished in Ballyhaunis? What is the delay? Why is the Government not stepping in? Why have I to be here today raising this when the Government has a put a contract in place and a builder is in place? If there are problems, why are these problems not dealt with? If the builder is not able to complete, why have we not taken the builder out of the site and put somebody else in? This is not fair to the people of Ballyhaunis. A lot of people are having to travel to the health centres in Castlebar, Westport or Claremorris when they should be going to their own health centre in Ballyhaunis. The Government is talking about multicultural Ireland and bringing people into towns but it will not put the facilities in to suit the people who need and want them.

I hope the Minister of State will have clear answers for me today. I will be surprised if I get clear answers from the HSE. They do not seem to want to answer anything. They seem to be gone out of control. It is time the Government brought the people who are running these operations back to heel. I want clear answers today for the people of Ballyhaunis and for Alma Gallagher, who has been raising this for the past year and cannot get replies out of the HSE.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. In fairness, he has been instrumental in the primary care centres that have been delivered and in having them delivered in a timely manner. I am dealing with this matter on behalf of the Minister of Health, who has asked me to thank the Deputy for raising this matter and for the opportunity to update the Dáil on this issue.

A central objective of the programme for Government is to deliver increased levels of integrated health care with service delivery reoriented towards general practice, primary care and community-based services to enable a "home first" approach. Integral to this is the development of primary care centres across the country in our local communities. PCCs provide important primary care infrastructure, providing a single point of access to services for the individual, and can serve as a resource more broadly for the community, creating a focal point for local health initiatives or providing community groups with a place to meet. It is for this reason that the development of primary care centres is an important part of Sláintecare. Significant progress has been made in the delivery of these PCCs, with 174 opened to date and a further seven in construction and due to open in 2024. These centres offer a tangible example of the investment this Government is making in community-based health infrastructure.

This is the part where it gets technical. The operational lease model is often the preferred model for developing PCCs. Under the model, the HSE enters fixed-term leases with developers. The HSE identifies the locations requiring primary care centres and invites interested parties to express their interest in providing suitable accommodation by way of public notice in national and-or local press. The primary care centre in Ballyhaunis is being delivered by way of this operational lease model.

The Department is aware that construction on Ballyhaunis primary care centre has been stalled for a considerable time. As the Deputy outlined, it was to be completed in 2020 or 2021. The Department is aware of the frustration this has caused the people of the town.

Unfortunately, the preferred provider of the new primary care centre in Ballyhaunis has indicated a potential issue regarding the viability of the project. Subsequently, engagement has taken place between the HSE and the developer to understand the nature and extent of the issue. However, should the preferred provider be unable to proceed, the HSE has reassured the Minister that it will be exploring all options to deliver a new primary care centre in the area. In this regard, the Minister wishes to assure the Deputy that this Government remains committed to the provision of the primary care centre in Ballyhaunis and to the continued development of primary care centres throughout the country.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I am disappointed with the response from the Minister of State and I will tell him why. This primary care centre was to be completed in 2020. Works have been at a standstill since 2021. We are now into 2024. I want there to be the same urgency with this work as there was for the national children's hospital in Dublin. In that case, the Government stepped in and had to renegotiate with the builders. I really do not care about the developer. I care about the people of Ballyhaunis and the primary medical care centre. I do not feel there is an urgency from the Department concerning this project. In fact, there is no urgency. When it cannot even respond to questions about it, it is not taking much interest in this matter.

I ask the Minister of State to go back to the Department today. I want clearer dates. I want to know if the Department is sitting down with the contractor or if it is going to get a new contractor. All I want to know is when this job will start again and when the contract will be completed in Ballyhaunis. Nothing in this response has satisfied me that anything is happening. Nothing is happening because everybody has stepped back. The Department needs to move in now quickly. If the builder is not able to complete the project and has a problem with finance, then that is his problem. Let us get another builder in there and get this centre completed.

Regarding rules and regulations out there for the ordinary citizens of this State, it is not right the way these are being brought in. When it comes to the State itself, though, it cannot produce or do anything. It is not possible to get passports. We let people in from all over the world without passports and we will not let our own people out of the country with passports because they cannot get them in the Passport Office. It is the same with NCT and driver tests. Nothing can be done. Why can the public service not work? We must start asking questions. Somebody made decisions here. That decision has not been dealt with. I want to know what the Minister has to say. He is washing his hands of everything. He does not want to come into this House. It is an inconvenience for him to come into this House to answer questions. He needs to answer the questions now. I want to know if we are going to get a new contractor for this primary care centre, when the work is going to start and when the people of Ballyhaunis are going to get their new primary medical care centre. I want there to be the same urgency with the work on this centre as there was with the national children's hospital in Dublin. What is wrong with the west?

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I fully understand the frustration and so does the Minister. It is one of the issues encountered. I refer to where a developer has agreed to provide a facility but cannot then proceed. There is frustration because of legal difficulties that may arise. The Minister fully recognises the frustration of the people in the local area who have been awaiting the completion of this centre for some time. As was noted, the HSE is engaging with the developer to address the barriers to moving forward with the completion of this primary care centre. Should the preferred provider be unable to proceed, the HSE has reassured the Minister that it will be exploring all options to deliver a new primary care centre for the area. The Minister wishes to assure the Deputy that both he and officials in the Department are actively engaging with the HSE to progress the completion of Ballyhaunis primary care centre, as well as further development of primary care centres throughout the country.

I fully understand this frustration. I have come across it myself in other areas I have been in. The difficulty here appears to be that progress has not been made in the time the Deputy is talking about, from 2021 to date. It is obviously something that now needs to be prioritised. I will follow this matter up myself for the Deputy as well because I do understand there are sometimes legal technicalities that arise and there may be a stand-off between various parties involved. This means it is sometimes difficult to resolve these issues. I will, therefore, see what further information I can get for the Deputy concerning this issue.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State.