Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I accept that. Mr. Fitzgerald has said that the HSE is investing in property. We do not care about that because the HSE, as an entity, is obliged to invest in people and look after them to the best of its ability. That obligation has got lost and, therefore, the residents and their families have suffered the most from the HSE's inability to maintain these buildings.

What if there was political will whereby the HSE was asked to get a cost, knew how much it would cost to build a new centre in Midleton while locating it somewhere temporarily? As Mr. Fitzgerald and I know, once a centre is up and running there will be a demand for its services. I have approached the Minister of State many times about the centre. If there was the political will could the HSE replace the services in Midleton and maybe even with half of them in the Owenacurra Centre and the remaining half across the road?