Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. However, I am most dissatisfied with it. There is a pressing need right now to provide health care services within Portumna and its surrounding area. As the Minister of State mentioned, some 6,500 people want to avail of these services and it is not good enough to think that they are being ignored. What will the people of Portumna and the surrounding area do until such time as a primary medical care centre is built? The sense of abandonment of the people of Portumna is quite clear and the Minister and the Department of Health need to do something in the interim until the primary medical care centre is built. There is no point in looking to the future when 6,500 people are looking for these services on a daily basis. The issue is far more pressing than the Department realises. I implore the Minister of State and the Minister to do something now on the issue.