Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed with the response from the Minister of State and I will tell him why. This primary care centre was to be completed in 2020. Works have been at a standstill since 2021. We are now into 2024. I want there to be the same urgency with this work as there was for the national children's hospital in Dublin. In that case, the Government stepped in and had to renegotiate with the builders. I really do not care about the developer. I care about the people of Ballyhaunis and the primary medical care centre. I do not feel there is an urgency from the Department concerning this project. In fact, there is no urgency. When it cannot even respond to questions about it, it is not taking much interest in this matter.

I ask the Minister of State to go back to the Department today. I want clearer dates. I want to know if the Department is sitting down with the contractor or if it is going to get a new contractor. All I want to know is when this job will start again and when the contract will be completed in Ballyhaunis. Nothing in this response has satisfied me that anything is happening. Nothing is happening because everybody has stepped back. The Department needs to move in now quickly. If the builder is not able to complete the project and has a problem with finance, then that is his problem. Let us get another builder in there and get this centre completed.

Regarding rules and regulations out there for the ordinary citizens of this State, it is not right the way these are being brought in. When it comes to the State itself, though, it cannot produce or do anything. It is not possible to get passports. We let people in from all over the world without passports and we will not let our own people out of the country with passports because they cannot get them in the Passport Office. It is the same with NCT and driver tests. Nothing can be done. Why can the public service not work? We must start asking questions. Somebody made decisions here. That decision has not been dealt with. I want to know what the Minister has to say. He is washing his hands of everything. He does not want to come into this House. It is an inconvenience for him to come into this House to answer questions. He needs to answer the questions now. I want to know if we are going to get a new contractor for this primary care centre, when the work is going to start and when the people of Ballyhaunis are going to get their new primary medical care centre. I want there to be the same urgency with the work on this centre as there was with the national children's hospital in Dublin. What is wrong with the west?

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