Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister, I thank Deputy Adams for raising this issue and for affording me the opportunity to provide further clarification. I understand that the issue here is that Deputy Adams believes that the information provided in a direct reply from the HSE to Parliamentary Question No. 170 of 23 January 2019 from his colleague, Deputy O’Reilly, conflicts with a response provided to him by the HSE in reply to Parliamentary Question No. 1817 of 24 July 2018 concerning the development of a primary care centre in Dundalk. I am informed that the HSE has replied to Deputy Adams directly on this matter in a letter dated 12 June in response to a parliamentary question that he tabled on 16 April. I also understand that, following his submission of a representation, the Minister sought clarification on this matter and responded directly to Deputy Adams on 14 June last.

As the Deputy may be aware, the HSE has responsibility for the provision, maintenance and operation of primary care centres and other primary care facilities. The executive's response to the Deputy's original question in July 2018 outlined that under the operational lease mechanism, the HSE had identified a preferred provider for the provision of the centre in Dundalk, that HSE estates had issued a letter of intent to the successful applicant and that initial meetings had taken place to progress the design layout. It was intended that works would commence in 2019, subject to planning permission, with an expected opening date early in 2020.

Confusion has arisen following the question submitted by Deputy O’Reilly in January of this year which sought information on the number of operational and planned primary care centres across the country. In the response provided by the HSE, Dundalk primary care centre was not included in the "Under Construction" or "Advanced Planning" appendices. The reason for this apparent discrepancy is that circumstances have changed regarding the development of Dundalk primary care centre. The HSE has advised that subsequent to the reply issued to Deputy Adams in July 2018, the disability services division advocated strongly for space in the primary care centre. This meant that the project had to be reviewed and, as such, it is now categorised as being in the design phase and does not meet the requirements to be included in the advanced planning category. Hence, the centre was not included in the list issued to Deputy O’Reilly in response to the parliamentary question tabled in January 2019 as that list included only centres which are under construction or in advanced planning.

Clearly, the circumstances pertaining to the development of the centre in Dundalk have changed and this has resulted in a delay. I have no doubt that Deputy Adams and the local community in Dundalk are disappointed by this but the HSE has offered assurances that it is the correct strategic move for long-term plans for care delivery in Dundalk. The HSE is following the required internal protocols to take account of the additional space requirements and hopes to have the additional approval submitted, as appropriate, in the coming months. At that stage, the time lines of the project would be laid out more precisely and I understand that the HSE has already indicated that it is happy to update the Deputy as appropriate.

It is unfortunate that the change in status of this project has caused some confusion and that the project will not be delivered as originally scheduled because of an expansion in scope. Nonetheless, I assure the Deputy that it is still very much the intention to develop a primary care centre in Dundalk and that work is ongoing to deliver this project so that we can fulfil our vision of delivering better care, closer to people’s homes, in their local communities.

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