John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not wish to be disrespectful but I am aware of most of what the Minister of State said. She said she was confident but, having gone through the process for so long, I have a complete lack of confidence in it. I want to pick her up on one thing. The Taoiseach, in his speech to this House yesterday, said, "Funding has also been provided to increase the number of doctor training places, and to deliver on the 80 additional primary care centres around the country." There are not 80 in the plans for the moment. The Minister of State said 93 were opened between 2011 and 2016 and she is correct but the response I received to a parliamentary question is really interesting because it shows that the momentum for primary care centres has been lost as the economy is recovering, for whatever reason. In 2012, 18 were opened while in the following year, 2013, nine were opened. In 2014, seven were opened and in 2015 five were opened while, to date in 2016, three have been opened. The words are fine but there is no momentum in the project and we are not seeing delivery. The Minister said services were being operated in various locations and she is right but they are not the comprehensive range of services, such as speech and language services, occupational therapy and so forth, that we would have in a proper designated primary care centre. That is the difference and I think the Minister knows that.

These three projects have been around the block numerous times. One of them is in the full control of various arms of the State via the Department of Education and Skills and the HSE. There is a need for more urgency. The other two, which require third-party intervention because they involve lease agreements or public private partnership arrangements, have stumbled. One of them is dead in the water because An Bord Pleanála has refused it. The Department needs to be much more proactive.

There was a time when if a Deputy asked a question on primary care centres, the answer was provided by the Minister. If one asks a question in that regard now, the Minister refers it to the HSE for reply. Primary care centres, in terms of the impact they could have on acute hospital services in our communities, are not delivering in the areas of speech and language, occupational therapy and so on. All of these services are missing. There is a need for greater urgency. I reiterate that only three centres will be delivered this year. Five were delivered last year. This process has ground to a halt in the past number of years and I do not know the reason for this. This issue must be addressed. I appreciate that the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, is not the line Minister with responsibility in this regard.

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