Ann Graves (Dublin Fingal East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Many of our most vulnerable children and young people have been failed not only by CHI but also by the Government. Families from right across my constituency of Dublin Fingal East have contacted me in desperation, pleading for decent healthcare services for their children. A young mother in Swords who has turned her life around and gone back to education has a three-year-old child who has severe needs. She has been waiting far too long for the medical interventions needed to assist her child. She cannot afford private services but early support is key. In Malahide, there is a woman who has been in care all her life. When she reached 18, she had to leave foster care. She received no supports and no housing plan. She is now homeless and has mental health difficulties. She feels totally abandoned. Another mother is totally distraught. Her 14-year-old daughter has anorexia. She is one of four children. This mother is frantic with worry but there are no supports available to her. The problems are made worse by the fact that the family is living in appalling housing conditions. Their private rental property has a hole in the roof and there is damp and mould in the house. Another parent is from Kinsealy. Their 13-year-old daughter is crying out for help. She has suicidal tendencies and cannot go to school. Despite this parent's best efforts, they have yet to receive any supports for their daughter. These are just a few examples from my own constituency.

The healthcare needs of our children and young people are simply not being met. A major step forward would be the delivery of the long-awaited public primary care centre for Swords, a town with a population of almost 41,000. I welcomed the recent HSE capital plan for 2025 but I am bitterly disappointed that it fails to deliver the long-awaited primary care centre for Swords, which would take the pressure off Beaumont Hospital and serve the wider area. Fingal has seen one of the highest rates of population growth in the State. This rapid population growth has resulted in a significantly high youth population. The glaring omission from the plan is the badly needed primary care centre. The public needs and deserves this. In 2022, I had it included in the Fingal development plan. There was a lengthy process with the HSE, which stated that a facility in Swords would be built and operational by 2025. Some 13 years after it was originally deemed a priority by the HSE, members of the public are still no closer to walking through the doors. This is highly worrying. It is another example of how publicly funded infrastructure never appears to be completed on time or on budget. I have seen correspondence from the HSE in recent weeks highlighting plans to develop a primary care centre in Donabate through an operational lease model. Like Swords, Donabate is in desperate need of investment in infrastructure. There is genuine concern that this project will become just another broken promise. On behalf of our young people, I appeal to the Minister to ensure that the public primary care centre in Swords is made operational as a priority. This would take much of the stress off other health services.

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