Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)

What I heard was "you must wait, you must travel, you are not getting the services." I have been at this for nine years. We have a primary care centre and it is a white elephant or whatever that expression is. It is not being utilised to its greatest extent. There are empty rooms and diagnostic suites that should and could have facilities in them to ensure people did not have to get into their cars or call an ambulance and travel outside of my area to put pressure on hospitals in other areas that are already under immense pressure.

Balbriggan Primary Care Centre cannot even provide immunisation facilities for older people and children. There is a chronic waiting list for GPs in north County Dublin. It is acute in Balbriggan and yet every time I ask whether the Minister will look to directly employing GPs, even just to clear the backlog, the answer is stonewalled and silenced. The Minister of State mentioned the community specialist teams for older people, the children's disability network team and the community mental health teams but none of those are staffed; none of them are fully staffed. All those teams require recruitment. I reiterate that the HSE has told me in no uncertain terms that there are no immediate plans to develop phlebotomy, X-ray or diagnostic services in Balbriggan Primary Care Centre.

I ask, on behalf of the people of Balbriggan and the area surrounding it who will be able to utilise the Balbriggan Primary Care Centre, that the Government please include in its immediate plans phlebotomy, X-ray and diagnostic services for Balbriggan Primary Care Centre.

It is a fast-growing area. The demand is only going in one direction. I ask that at the very least the deficits be made up and some provision be made to future-proof it. The Minister of State mentioned Sláintecare but what is happening in Balbriggan and the areas served by Balbriggan Primary Care Centre is the very opposite of Sláintecare. It is telling people to get into their cars and travel for services.

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