Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I take as contemptible the Deputy's allegation of personal benefit by the Minister, Deputy James Reilly, in respect of his remit as Minister for Health. He has already given details on all of this to the House in a public statement. He is one of the few people with a genuinely passionate interest in shifting the structure and nature of how health is delivered in this country in the interest of the patient. This is not an easy task and the Minister is focused on getting the strategy right and implementing it.

The decision in respect of the primary care centres is to develop 20 primary care centres from a list of 35. I have provided Deputy Martin with the reasons it was necessary to have a list of more than 20, simply because a range of issues could arise, such as objections, non-buy-in, lack of competition, impact on acute services in hospitals and the range of services that must be provided through the primary care centres in order to be effective. As I have mentioned, some centres were in areas where a lease was arranged, some in areas where a lease was to be arranged, some had direct HSE-Exchequer funding and others were under the PPP programme. They are the sectors and the Minister has set out the criteria involved.

As mentioned, this particular development of primary care centres involves 20 from a list of 35. It remains to be seen which 20 get across the line, taking all the criteria into account. They were part of the Government stimulus package announced by the Government and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and were signed off in individual sectors through discussions and recommendations by each Minister in consultation with his or her colleagues.

I am sure that at the end of all of this the Deputy will appreciate the importance and function of primary care centres to provide decent, first-class care and attention in many areas for people who need them. I wish to God we could provide more primary care centres in a shorter time because they are a part of the development of this stimulus package for primary care centres. Where they work well, they are very effective. I have been in a number of them and have seen at first hand the response from patients and the efficiency that applies when everybody buys into the provision of a really strong, effective primary care centre. This is so important for the future health of people all over the country.

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