Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----and had this scenario unfolded, we know who would have been shouting the loudest. We have a right in opposition to ask the questions to which the people are seeking answers.

Politics is about the art of the possible. Primary care was a fundamental pillar of the programme for Government's health sphere. I agree that the development of primary care is essential if we are to remove the logjam in hospitals. However, this is an issue of how we achieve that and how we select centres, particularly where public private partnerships are involved. Regardless of what happened previously, politics must be renewed.

Another fundamental plank of the programme for Government was a renewed transparency in public office, in the Government and in the Oireachtas, but none of that has come about. This is just one glaring example. In February 2012, the criteria for the selection of primary care centres were agreed between the Minister, the then Minister of State and departmental officials. Subsequently, 15 centres were added to the list. Senator MacSharry has covered most of this aspect of the motion, but how were additional sites added?

This shades the political process and demonstrates political interference in a system where criteria had been agreed by officials overseen by Ministers. If the process and criteria were objective and acceptable internationally, as I understand they were, why was there need for political interference to decide that centres like Balbriggan, which was way down the list of 200 primary care centres, would be selected ahead of Dundalk, which was 21st on the list? The public is asking these questions and although there may be answers during this debate, there has been a glaring omission in providing an answer to those questions.

We all know what happened in Roscommon before the election, when a commitment was given that the hospital would be kept open, but we know what has happened since. There is also the issue of the delivery of two primary care centres in Roscommon. Why close a hospital and then invest money in primary care centres? If all the services available at Roscommon hospital had been kept intact, there would be no need to provide primary centres. There are hundreds of thousands of empty buildings throughout the country and we do not need new buildings in the current climate. We should be looking at empty buildings that can be modernised and refurbished.