Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)

I, too, welcome Cara and Mark to the Public Gallery today. I will be speaking about the issue that concerns them later in the day. It is a scandal that Cara has to be here again to protest on the issue.

The issue I want to raise with the Taoiseach is the absence of primary care. It is over eight years since the Sláintecare plan was agreed for a public health system by all parties in this House. It was due to be fully up and running by the end of this year, by 31 December, but, of course, we are so far from the full implementation of its recommendations and what was set out in it. Nowhere is this more starkly seen than in the area of primary care.

Primary care is sparse right throughout the State, particularly in County Laois. Despite the best efforts of GPs and staff working in the sector across the State, we are not within a country mile of having a properly resourced and fully functioning primary care system. The effects of this are many. There is a lack of timely intervention and minor health issues are becoming chronic, finishing up in hospitals. We have emergency departments clogged up with people who cannot afford to go to a GP because they do not have a medical card. In some cases, they cannot even get a GP even when they have a medical card or are going privately. On occasion, people who come to me state they cannot access a GP even though they are paying privately.

Treatments that should be available in primary care centres and local health centres are simply not available. Therefore, it is up to the hospital, which is where people are going. Basically, we have to have health centres and GPs to staff them, in addition to ancillary staff, whom we do not have in this country, to manage and man them and ensure the services are available.

In County Laois, we are short of the basics on both counts. We have no primary care centre in Portlaoise, a town with a population that exceeds that of Kilkenny. It now has a population in the region of 30,000. We have health centres in Mountrath, Borris-in-Ossory, Rathdowney and Graiguecullen that need to be replaced or upgraded. In the case of Portlaoise, the design is done but the project requires capital funding to move it on. It is located on a perfect site. The centre in Mountrath is too small and is outdated. It is being talked about but the project needs to be moved on. It is the same for the centre in Rathdowney, which is totally unsuitable. A new centre needs to be put in place there. We are moving at a snail’s pace. The centre in Borris-in-Ossory needs to be replaced, and there is now an opportunity to locate it within the old courthouse, which is being refurbished by the county council. In Graiguecullen, the position is the same. There is talk of making it the health centre for the south-east corner of Laois, taking in Swan, Newtown, Crettyard, Killeshin and Arless. However, this cannot happen because, as things stand, we cannot even cater for the population of Graiguecullen.

See this speech in context