Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy very much for raising the issue of the crucial importance of primary care provision. When I was Minister for Health and Children in 2001, we made primary care the cornerstone of the then health strategy, Quality and Fairness. It took some time. In the modern area, we have progressed fairly significantly in terms of the provision of primary care centres. There are now about 179 of them across the country, 50 of which have been opened since 2020.

Overall, the Government is delivering record levels of investment in health services. A record €25 billion has been made available for 2025, and that represents an increase in health funding since 2019 of over 70%. In parallel with primary care, it supports very important initiatives like enhanced community care, and it also supports oral health and palliative, cardiovascular and cancer care.

Sometimes people say health absorbs an awful lot of expenditure and ask if we are pouring all the money into a black hole. We are not, actually. Outcomes are improving all the time, and that needs to be acknowledged as well. Life expectancy is now above 82. We are in a small group of seven EU member states where that is the case. Our mortality rate fell by 11% over the years 2014-22. The mortality rate for all circulatory system diseases fell by 20% in that period, with heart disease and stroke falling by 28% and 37%, respectively. A lot of that was due to the work on primary care in terms of cardiac initiatives in particular. The mortality rate for all cancers in that period dropped by 15%, with cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lung and breast cancer dropping by 21% and 22%, respectively. The mortality rate for all respiratory system diseases has fallen by 15%, with chronic lower respiratory diseases and pneumonia falling by 9% and 41%, respectively.

We are making progress in terms of investment in health and, critically, health outcomes. There are other aspects of that - healthy lifestyles, nutrition and so on - but primary care is central to it. As regards chronic disease and chronic disease management, for example, primary care is where it is at. Some 95% of GPs are now signed up to the chronic disease management programme, with over 645,000 patient reviews by GPs in 2024 alone. Some 92% of patients with chronic disease are now fully managed routinely in primary care and not attending hospital for the management of their conditions.

From what the Deputy has said, I would say progress is happening in his constituency. I think he said that in Portlaoise the design stage is complete for the primary care centre and he has said it is an excellent site. I anticipate progress in that regard. I will check with the Minister-----

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