Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit.  She is familiar with this issue.  As she knows, I have raised it in the Seanad regularly and I have been in regular correspondence with the Department and HSE.  She will know that access to GP care is a huge issue, particularly in north Wexford and south Wicklow.  North Wexford, in particular, is one of the fastest growing areas of the country.  During the general election campaign, which we talked about before, the question of access to health services, particularly to GPs, was a major factor.  There are waiting lists for existing surgeries.  The surgeries provide a good service but they cannot take on any more patients.  The Minister of State will also be very familiar with the challenges around CAMHS and the children’s disability network team.

  While there are two existing surgeries, primary care centres, in 2010 or 2011 the concept of a new primary care centre for Gorey and north Wexford was advanced.  By 2018, even though several us had been raising the fact that there would be problems with a particular site, planning permission was granted for it.  In spite of the problems being raised continually, the HSE chose to continue.  By May 2020, as there had been no progress, I raised the issue as a Commencement matter in the Seanad and through correspondence, as the Minister of State will know.  The response to the Commencement matter at the time was that the Minister had been told a contractor had been appointed and, indeed, that construction would begin within 12 months.  Having gone from May 2021 to May 2022, when there had been no progress, I got the exact same answer.  I was told then that construction would commence within 12 months.  In November 2022, when it was no surprise that no construction had commenced, HSE correspondence stated it would be treated as a priority.  By November 2023, when we saw that there had been no progress on the priority for 12 months, I arranged a meeting with the then Minister, Stephen Donnelly, and HSE officials.  I always recall Mr. Donnelly's response and thank him for it.  He said that even in spite of the delays and cost overruns, the national children’s hospital would be finished quicker than the new primary care centre in Gorey.  I agreed with him.  This Minister, in fairness to him, intervened directly, such that in May 2024, 13 to 14 years after the original idea was conceived, the HSE relented and accepted that the existing site was not suitable.

  Regarding what we were being told was an immediate priority, expressions of suitable interest were finally advertised in November 2024.  I have been told, including in response to a parliamentary question and in correspondence I have had with the HSE from January, that following a discussion with stakeholders on the revised health service needs within the area, we would see the tender for the provision of a primary care centre advertised on the eTenders procurement platform in mid-quarter 1 2025.  I am not sure how anyone else would define mid-quarter 1 2025 but to me it is around now.  I would be grateful if the Minister of State could inform the House and, more important, the people in north Wexford, who have been waiting for the service for a long time, whether the tender is about to be advertised and whether we will finally see a primary care centre under construction, hopefully, by the end of this year or at least during 2026.

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