Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While I cannot cite the relevant page in the programme for Government, I understand it is proposed to centralise partially nursing home support scheme offices - the fair deal offices in short - which will be reduced in number from 17 to five and located in Naas, Ballymun, Cork, Limerick and Tullamore. Lo and behold, people in Donegal will have to travel to Tullamore to deal with a fair deal application, as they must travel to Dublin for a passport. Given the modern communications available and the implications of Brexit for County Donegal, what are we doing? Can people in Donegal not deal with people from other counties? Are we not competent enough to have a centre located in the county? While I do not expect the Taoiseach to be able to answer my questions, I ask him to address the issue and speak to the Minister for Health about having a sixth location for fair deal offices. We should not fix what is not broken but if a sixth office is to be provided, it should be located in Donegal where staff are well capable of dealing with other offices. This decision is inexcusable and unacceptable. I ask the Taoiseach, as a west of Ireland man, to put on his north-west hat.

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