Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for selecting this Topical Issue matter, which is very important to the people of Celbridge and the surrounding area. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, for coming in. I am disappointed that the Minister, Deputy Harris, who has responsibility for this area, is not here, especially given that he is such an advocate for primary care. He has spoken in this House on many occasions about the good services that primary care operates. On this occasion, I will highlight the disappointment where he has promised a service for at least four years and has pulled back from that commitment. The Minister visited this primary care centre and was advocating how good it was to have it as a centre of excellence with all of the appropriate facilities and services, but he is now rowing back from that, which is very disappointing.

I will highlight the fact that since the service is not currently available in Celbridge, my home town, people have to travel to Naas for this service. It is approximately 30 km away and Celbridge has no direct public transport link to it. I have been raising this issue for the past 12 months. I will walk the Minister of State through what has happened to date with regard to different correspondence. This has been as a result of parliamentary questions that I have tabled and general representations to the HSE. In January 2019, I raised the issue with the HSE, the Minister and the Department. There was concern that the dental service was being lost from Celbridge to Maynooth. The HSE confirmed to me in a letter, dated 28 January, that Celbridge primary care, a very large, modern primary care unit, was going to have dental services set up in it for Celbridge. That was going to become a centre of excellence for Celbridge and the surrounding area. The dental services for Maynooth were going to be relocated to Celbridge. That was all very positive since we were getting information into the public domain about what was happening and what the plan was for this much-needed service for the general area.

In April, I followed it up again and I got another confirmation from the HSE that the new dental clinic in the Celbridge primary care centre was still a priority and was progressing, which was all good news. In August of this year, I asked a parliamentary question and the HSE confirmed that works for the dental clinic in Celbridge had gone to tender. The tenders were being reviewed and the HSE was not able to give me a timeline for when this project was going to commence and be completed, but it was all positive. Every answer is subject to funding, which we know, but it was still being progressed. This is a large new primary care centre in Celbridge. Many primary care providers do not have the needed services or facilities and many only work at a quarter or half rate. It is important to bring in the needed front-line services there through the public health system. This was all positive and was being accepted.

In October, I was disappointed to get correspondence to tell me that the works would not commence and would not happen until 2023. Everything had changed and had gone back by four years. This was very disappointing, not just for me but for the people of Celbridge and the surrounding area. There was promise after promise that this dental clinic would come to the Celbridge primary care centre, having been identified as being much needed and urgently required. It was to become the centre of excellence for the area. The Minister of State can understand our disappointment and frustration. I have outlined in writing everything that I have said about the full sequence of events from the past 12 months.

I have a few statistics to put on the record. The population of Celbridge is 22,500. Land is owned and planning permission has been granted for 3,500 houses. We have no direct public transport access from Celbridge to Naas. People cannot afford taxis and have no way to get there. This situation is completely unacceptable and it needs urgent attention. I hope that we will be able to progress it today.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy O'Rourke for raising the issue of the refurbishment of Celbridge health centre and the provision of a dental clinic at the centre. The provision of services, including dental services, is an operational matter for the HSE. The HSE has advised that it has a modernisation plan for the dental service in community healthcare organisation, CHO, 7. The existing location is a three-surgery clinic that requires upgrading of decontamination facilities, administrative space and other infection prevention and control upgrades. The dental location in Celbridge acts as a hub for dental services in north Kildare due to the larger population of schoolchildren being served by that location. The location has already been upgraded to provide extra oral radiographic services to patients attending other clinics in the north of the county.

The Celbridge clinic closed in June 2018 for refurbishment to enable it to comply with new regulations. Refurbishment work has been tendered and tender returns are being reviewed by HSE estates. The HSE capital plan for 2020 is being developed. Funding will be dependent on the capital available and competing priorities. Routine dental services are being provided in the HSE dental clinics in Naas while emergency services are available from all HSE dental clinics located across the dental area as per normal. The HSE is also engaged in a recruitment process to replace dental staff that have recently retired. While the dental clinic in Celbridge is closed, all patients are being offered services as close as possible to Celbridge. The HSE is actively monitoring this service and will ensure that all patients will continue to be offered appointments.

The Celbridge primary care centre became operational in 2017. It is a vital resource to the growing population of Celbridge and its surrounding area, serving approximately 23,000 people. It delivers a comprehensive range of services through Centric Health GP Practice, Mangan's Pharmacy and Riverside Dental. Primary care team services, including public health nursing, adult and paediatric occupational therapy, adult and paediatric physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and much more are also delivered on site. The network disability teams services and child and adolescent mental health services are also part of the services being delivered. The provision of these different services at the one location is designed to benefit the patient, but I know that it also gives practitioners an invaluable opportunity as professionals to work together and learn from one another's experience, which is so important. The Health Service Executive will develop its capital plan for 2020 having regard to the available funding, the number of large national capital projects under way, and the cashflow requirements and priorities attaching to each project. All projects are considered as part of this process. Once the HSE has finalised its capital plan for 2020, it will then be submitted to the Minister, Deputy Harris, for consideration.

Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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That answer is the stock answer that we get on what is happening overall. There is no substance or detail to it. The purpose of me bringing this into the Chamber today after 12 months of constant communication with the Minister and his officials in the Department is to try to see what we need to do to get this back on track. It is not true to say that the dental service is being offered as close as possible to the people of Celbridge. The closest possible service being offered at present is 30 km away and there is no direct public transport link from Celbridge to Naas. Many families have no car or only one car and they have no way to access that service or to get there directly. As the Minister of State can appreciate, it is too expensive to get taxis there.

If the HSE and the Minister are not going to put this service in place in the short to medium term, as committed to during the year and through correspondence, I respectfully ask that they come and engage, and try to put an interim solution in place until the state-of-the-art dental clinic is up and operating in Celbridge, which was promised 12 months ago as a centre of excellence for Celbridge and the surrounding area. We need that because families currently cannot access the services and get to their appointments, with 30 km being a step too far. Attention for this needs to be prioritised to get this project, which was committed to a year ago, back on track. It has been pushed out by four years by the Minister and the HSE. The Minister of State outlined a number of other services in his response but that is not true. I was in the primary care centre three or four months ago. The section operated by the HSE is sparse with very few services. The private sector side is operating the full service but the HSE-operated section does not have the needed services and facilities.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I call the Minister of State to conclude.

Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Leas-Cheann Comhairle to bear with me for a moment. I ask the Minister of State to get his office or that of the Minister, Deputy Harris, to convene a meeting between me, officials in the HSE and the Minister to discuss this important project, to try to get it back on track, and to try to get the people of Celbridge the service they need so that they do not have to travel 30 km.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I hear the frustration in the Deputy's voice and appreciate that this frustrates him as a local representative. From the perspective of the Government and the Minister, Deputy Harris, there is a 15% increase in next year's capital budget. I know these figures are not of significant interest to people but the reality is that there is an increase of €102 million.

There is additional capacity but there are also additional competing demands for that capital budget. The Deputy, like any good representative, is right to fight tooth and nail. He has been very consistent and I want to commend him. I have discussed this with him in the House previously and I acknowledge his consistent and constructive approach to trying to get it delivered for his area, as is his right. I am glad the people he represents have his voice to do that.

I can hear the Deputy's frustration. However, the Minister, Deputy Harris, does not have any direct involvement at this stage. It is the HSE which will submit a capital plan to the Minister for 2020 and it is a matter for the HSE as to whether this is going to be in that plan. If the Deputy sends the details to the Minister's office requesting that meeting, I will ask the Minister to request the HSE to meet the Deputy to try to alleviate some of his frustration and concern around this matter.