Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)

In the final minutes, I will ask some questions on primary care centres. It is an important issue and I do not think it came up today. Before I do, I want to pick up a point around vacant and derelict buildings. It really frustrates people when they see vacant buildings. The HSE is guilty, like some of our other State agencies, of leaving buildings vacant. One comes to mind in my own constituency on Grattan Street. It has been vacant for seven years. Next door is a primary school that is bursting at the seams. It is an Educate Together school that is looking to expand. It has caused frustration and is something I have written to the HSE about. It would be good to examine how best those buildings can be used in the longer term.

In terms of primary care centres, they are crucial and we have not had a chance to touch on them today. They are too often overlooked despite the fact that a strong network of primary care centres is central to the delivery of Sláintecare. They are key to the comprehensive continuum of care that was referenced by the Department in its statement. It is increasingly important with our ageing population that we have a robust network of primary care centres. I do not think it has been prioritised enough. We have seen this, for example, in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report from 2018 on the development of primary care centres. It included four recommendations that the HSE and Department of Health agreed to implement. However, when the Comptroller and Auditor General's team went back in the middle of this year, not one of those recommendations had been implemented. We also know that the ranked prioritisation list of primary care centres has not changed in over a decade, but what has changed is the total number of centres on the programme, from 356 in the list provided to the Comptroller and Auditor General to circa 300 in the Department's briefing. Will the witnesses provide the committee with a note that lists the 300 projects still under the primary care centre programme, with the status of each? Will they identify those that have been removed since they provided the Comptroller and Auditor General with the list of 356? The Comptroller and Auditor General's list of primary care centres lists those that merged, are deemed not to be required or are under review. I take it that they have been removed, but we need to get full sight of that. Will witnesses give us an updated list on the primary care centres?