Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As is the case with every other Member of the House, I respect the Deputy's mandate.

I respect the mandate of every Member of this House. This is my first opportunity to congratulate Deputy Pringle on the events of the weekend concerning Donegal. It is great to see the Deputy here.

I attended two important and well-attended meetings of the Labour Party - the national executive and the general council - whose members are drawn from every part of the country. The party members in both groups discussed health and all the matters facing the Labour Party in government. Deputy Eamon Gilmore was fulsome in his support of Deputy Róisín Shortall and fulsome in his commendation of her achievements. Those achievements, both in opposition and as a member of the Government for the past 18 months will still remain when the personality clashes are forgotten and there will be a network of 20 to 35 primary care centres around the country.

I appreciate Deputy Pringle's remarks about public-private partnerships. However, because of Ireland's weak borrowing capacity it is not possible at the moment to have commercially viable PPPs. This is part of the problem and one of the reasons the list would have been expanded in order to provide for more viable options to complete the minimum number of 20 clinics in the timeframe. PPPs in Ireland are not an attractive mechanism to the financial markets at this time. When we get back our economic sovereignty we will be able to borrow and then be in a position to provide all 35 clinics. In the meantime, when negotiating with general practitioners in private practice in all parts of the country, our objective is to ensure that as many citizens as possible in all parts of the country will have access to modern general practitioner facilities which will provide testing facilities, paramedical services, physiotherapy and counselling services, all types of services above and beyond what the traditional GP and practice nurse in a traditional practice setting can provide. This is a significant reform in the provision of health care. Users of the health services or those who help older people to avail of services are well aware of the importance of this achievement. I am confident this will be achieved by this Government and it is has been prioritised for spending purposes even when money is tight. In my view, this will be to the credit of the Minister, Deputy Reilly, the former Minister of State, Deputy Shortall and the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch.

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