Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I am glad to hear of the progress with the five new centres which are greatly needed in our county. When the primary care centre model was developed by the Department of Health it was to provide modern purpose-designed buildings for a wide catchment area with care by a multidisciplinary primary care team. I live quite close to the Westbury primary care centre. I have brought my children there for developmental check-ups. It is fantastic to have a state-of-the-art facility on my doorstep. The other parts of our county also need them, and I am glad to hear they are progressing. Without a 24-hour accident and emergency department, County Clare has a higher dependency on community-level healthcare and also the out-of-hours service provided by Shannondoc. This is good news. I would like to hear a bit more about Kilrush and Ennistymon which are further back in the county and have a more pressing need for primary care centres.

See this speech in context