Ms Brigid Quirke:

When we had a mobile clinic in the past, it was a very negative experience for Travellers. It led to their being isolated and segregated. It was like a segregated service. We believe that targeted mainstream services are needed in the interests of equality. The mobile clinics were a targeted service, but they were not a mainstream service. Concepts like the positive duty and the ethnic identifier need to be considered as part of a targeted primary healthcare project. At the same time, we need to work with mainstream services to make them more user-friendly for Travellers while ensuring there is monitoring and training. In the longer term, that is more sustainable than isolating Travellers, which would have been the experience in the past.

I am concerned that the issue of the budget has not been addressed in the Department. I appreciate that Mr. Walsh thinks primary healthcare projects are a great model. While we are delighted to hear that, we are conscious that such projects are dying on their feet, unfortunately, because they have had no investment. Perhaps we could get the base budget back. It is fine to speak about €10 million, but no new moneys are being made available. We have not had a budget. If Mr. Walsh thinks primary healthcare projects are good, he needs to ensure that there is investment in them. In the last ten years, we have lost at least 50% of our projects because they have closed. The women from east Limerick who are here today are not getting funding. They are trying to get something off the ground, but nobody is supporting them. The issue of the budget has to be addressed. The Department is responsible for policy. The HSE is responsible for implementation. Mr. Walsh and his colleagues in the Department have more clout than they are giving themselves credit for. If we want to make things happen, that is the way we have to go forward.