James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, but as for the county boundary, trying to get that intervention from the State at a local authority level is an issue of continuing concern.

I want to see the Department of Health putting in further focus and examination.

One item of further concern regarding primary care services in Youghal is that a number of plans have been proposed for the St Raphael's site and it is important that something be done with it. It is a State-owned building and it is very lucky to have a very wide, expansive campus there. There was a great deal of hope that it would be the location of the new primary care and acute hospital facility being provided in Youghal but the HSE obviously is looking at it as being an older building and analysing whether it is more appropriate to construct a new facility on a greenfield site. If it is the case that the HSE is no longer interested in operating the older disused building in St Raphael's, not the newer facilities, it should look to releasing the older facilities to other State-owned and State-run facilities in the community.

This should include Gaelscoil Choráin, a wonderful Gaelscoil under the management of Caitríona Ní Riada, our principal there. That is a school which is very tight for space. That is just one small example of a community organisation that could take up use of St. Raphael's if the State thought the old building of the old psychiatric hospital there was no longer fit for purpose for healthcare provision but could be transferred to the use of something else. Extensive modern facilities have been built there and I would like to see whether it is possible to look at that being used for other purposes together with the daycare facilities. That is just one good example of why this site could be used for community purposes once again, having moved on from the style of psychiatric care that is no longer being provided in the country for obvious reasons where our best practices and models have moved on. That facility is very old and rundown.

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