Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise an important local issue with the Minister of State. It relates to the HSE's plans to close the local primary centre in Passage West, County Cork. The Minister of State knows the geography well because he has a very close friend living nearby in Monkstown. Between Passage West and Monkstown, the population totals over 6,000. It is a beautiful part of the Lower Harbour area of Cork.

The HSE's plan is to relocate the services currently being provided in the local health centre in Passage West to a new, state-of-the-art health centre currently being built in Carrigaline. The new facility will be outstanding for the local community in the area. It is not in the town, rather it is on the Crosshaven road in a local industrial estate. The impact of the closure of the health centre in Passage West has not been thought through. The current services being provided there include public health nursing, speech and language therapy and home help services. One might say that Carrigaline is only over the road. The new health centre is located 11 km away, which one might say is not the end of the world but the problem is compounded by the fact that there is no direct bus service between the two locations.

Somebody relying on public transport in Passage West to get to the new health centre which is being built in Carrigaline will have to get a bus to Douglas and another bus to Carrigaline or, if he or she is lucky enough, get a bus which is headed for Crosshaven. If he or she gets the latter, he or she can disembark from the bus on the Crosshaven road but will still have to walk for close to half a kilometre to get to the new primary care centre. If he or she has to get off a bus in Carrigaline, he or she will be close to 2 km away.

We have to think in particular of elderly people who do not have their own transport and are instead relying on public transport. For them, this is simply not an option. It is not acceptable that parents with young children, young mothers taking children for developmental checks with public health nurses or any other member of the local community who has to avail of the services in the current health centre would be required to find their way to the new health centre in Carrigaline.

I want the Minister of State and Government to give a commitment to revisit this issue. I acknowledge the work of local councillors who have highlighted this issue for some time, including Marcia D'Alton, Seamus McGrath and Michael "Frick" Murphy. They have raised the issue at council level and I have raised it in the Dáil. I also spoke with the Minister, Deputy Harris, about this issue today. The area is growing in terms of population and demand, but there was no consultation whatsoever on the part of the HSE with the local community prior to the decision being made. Rumours started during the summer and the issue was raised at council level. I raised it with the HSE, and tabled a Dáil question in September to which I received a reply in October that confirmed the closure of the local centre in Passage West.

People want an assurance that basic primary care services will continue to be provided in the local community of Passage West. Government policy is supposed to be the provision of essential primary care services at the nearest possible point to the people they are designed to serve. I ask the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Harris, to intervene with the HSE and prevent the outright closure of the health centre in Passage West which will leave many people in a very bad way. I suspect many will simply not be able to avail of the alternative services which will be provided in the new health centre. I look forward the Minister of State's reply.

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