Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This is trawling over material that has been discussed in the House a number of times. I told the House previously that I had discussed this issue with the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, the Secretary General of his Department and chief executive officer of the Health Service Executive who assured me that there was no political involvement of any kind in any individual site.

An internal audit of primary care centres was conducted. A review of departmental files and other documents was undertaken in early October by the internal audit unit, IAU, at the request of the Secretary General. The purpose of the review was to determine whether any documentation generated from 2011 to date would connect the Minister, Deputy Reilly, any of his advisers or anyone acting on behalf of the Minister to the selection of sites for the proposed primary care centres in Balbriggan and Swords. The scope of the request did not relate to any policy decision to locate a centre in either town. The checks carried out by the internal audit unit confirmed that no documentation relevant to the request was found.

The report, which issued to the Secretary General on 9 October, referred to his request for the internal audit unit to ascertain whether any documentation generated from 2011 to date was available within the Department that would connect the Minister, Deputy Reilly, and-or his advisers or anyone acting on his behalf to the selection of sites for the proposed primary care centres in Balbriggan and Swords. The internal audit unit asked the primary care unit and the offices of the Minister and the former Minister of State, in addition to the Minister's three advisers, to undertake a search with a view to locating any relevant documentation. All parties advised the IAU that no records relevant to the request could be located.

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