Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State on his new role. It is well deserved. I wish him luck.

I will be short and to the point. There is a shortage of primary care centres within my home county of Longford. There has been a great deal of discussion and many promises have been made. However, we are no further on with those promises. When will we see construction in order to provide much-needed upgraded primary care centres for towns in the county? I refer to three towns in particular. Ballymahon is located in south Longford. It has a population of more than 2,000 and is home to the largest tourism accommodation site in the county, with more than 2,500 people coming in and out of the area twice a week and staying within the geographical area around Ballymahon. Edgeworthstown, which experienced the highest increase in population of any town in Ireland between 2006 and 2011 due to the significant number of houses built, has a population of 2,500 to 3,000 people. Granard in north Longford services a huge rural hinterland that runs into parts of Westmeath and Cavan. In reality, we have not seen any progress on these projects. They have been talked about and promised but nothing has been delivered. I want an update on all three projects and I want to know when we will see progression and action in respect of them. As already stated, they need to be developed.