Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Seanad Éireann:- agrees that the selection criteria for primary care centres prioritising urban deprivation was unilaterally ignored by the Government;
- requests that all documentation be immediately published to clarify how exactly the criteria was changed and the extra centres were selected;
- condemns the cutbacks to front line services particularly bed closures, staff layoffs, and cuts to home help hours as a result of the mismanagement of the health budget which has resulted in ¤285 million overspend, and
- calls on the Government to reverse these proposed cuts to front line services and to make savings in other areas as outlined in budget 2012 by the Government.

I welcome the Minister back to the House. Notwithstanding all the issues I would like to raise with him, including the issue this evening, he has always made himself available to this House. His record is better than that of any other Minister in that regard. I thank him for that.

With regard to the selection of primary care centres, the issue of prioritising the tackling of urban deprivation was unilaterally ignored by the Cabinet, including the Minister. It is vital that all documentation relevant to the process be made available as a matter of urgency. There has been a ministerial resignation. It is not unprecedented but it is certainly a very serious matter considering the reasons former Minister of State, Deputy Róisín Shortall, gave for her departure.

It has been said on our side of the House by many colleagues that the wrong Minister resigned. While I would have many issues with the Minister and the Minister of State who resigned, I believe it may be easier to shout from the terraces than it is to play on the pitch. Notwithstanding that, the former Minister of State chose to state her reason for resigning was stroke politics. At a time when the entire body politic is in very low standing among the public, whatever remedy is available must be employed. In this context, it is in the interest of the Minister to ensure that any and all documentation, be it so-called commercially sensitive documentation or otherwise on lease agreements that may have been entered into after the granting of planning permission, be made available to the public.

The never-ending and ever-changing story of the primary care centre of Balbriggan, in particular, is extremely worrying. To many objective observers, it appears that the Minister looked after his own constituency when the opportunity presented itself. I refer to the original site being deemed inappropriate, the HSE moving on and the further expressions of interest, after which a site was chosen. All of this occurred on the Minister's watch. He wrote to Balbriggan Town Council to state there was an agreement for a site and a purchase price in principle. That was in July, I am told. Clearly, the Minister was aware that the site was agreed in principle and that the price was effectively agreed. The site happened to be associated with a long-term activist and supporter of the Fine Gael Party.

With that in mind, it is essential that we get to the bottom of this issue. As I said, it appears as if the Minister were looking after his own constituency. He looked after Roscommon because Deputy Frank Feighan took the hit that Deputy Denis Naughten was not prepared to take. The Minister for Health's ministerial colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, has not been able to deny that he lobbied explicitly for a primary care centre to be put in his area. The reality is that the preannouncement weighting of all of the locations was not consistent with their having been placed in the top 35. That is a concern of the people. The former Minister of State, Deputy Shortall, called it stroke politics and based her reason for withdrawal very specifically on that issue.

I cannot help but notice the absence of a number of Labour Party Senators.