Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I offer my congratulations to the Minister of State, Deputy White, and I wish him well particularly in the implementation of the primary health care programme. I am delighted that the Minister, Deputy Reilly, was present earlier to speak on the motion. Much has been made of him having been constantly critical of the previous Government's health policy when in opposition. While I accept he was critical, at the same time he was developing a roadmap on how to introduce universal health care, which is now part of the programme for Government and will be implemented within two terms of office. He did not spend the entire time in opposition throwing stones - he spent time researching how we would develop and implement the universal health care model, a major plank of which is primary care. I believe he has hit the ground running since coming into office.

Earlier this afternoon we had Committee Stage of the Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill, which changes the structures of how the HSE operates. Primary care is about delivering services as close as possible to people in the community. It is particularly important for those with disabilities and the elderly. The Minister of State comes in at a very fortuitous time with the announcement of the stimulus package in July. The Government has published the list of 35 primary care centres.

I take issue with the motion in the name of the Fianna Fáil Senators, which asks the House to agree "that the selection criteria for primary care centres prioritising urban deprivation was unilaterally ignored by the Government". However, this was not the case. The 20 primary care centres that were selected on the basis of deprivation are included in the Government's list.