Nicole Ryan (Sinn Fein)

It is lovely to see the Minister of State here. I wish to raise a very serious issue for the people of Kanturk and the wider north Cork area, that is, the ongoing delay and uncertainty surrounding the delivery of the Kanturk primary healthcare centre. This project has been promised for the community for a long time - years, in fact. The closure of SouthDoc in Kanturk in 2023 was justified explicitly on the basis that the community would get a healthcare facility. The closure forced patients - older people, vulnerable people, people with sick families and ill children - to travel to Mallow. Some do not have access to cars, and the public transport system in rural Ireland is not great. At the time, the then Minister, Stephen Donnelly, gave assurances that the new primary care centre would be a solution. The message to the people of Kanturk at the time was that they had to wait, everything would happen, and the process and the new centre would be there to meet their needs.

The people of Kanturk waited patiently, but just over a week ago we learned that the developer had pulled out of the project. The people of Kanturk have been let down once again. There are no timelines, there is no clarity and there is no replacement plan in place, so people are anxious, as the Minister of State can imagine. It is just more and more disappointment for a community that has already paid a huge price for its healthcare. The building is not just about a building; the fundamental lack of healthcare infrastructure in rural Ireland is the bigger problem. The question is how rural Ireland and rural communities are consistently expected to do more with less - to travel further, to wait longer and to accept decisions without any consultation or transparency. We often talk in this House about health inequalities. Here is a real-life example happening in front of us, right this second. Urban centres are expanding their services while towns like Kanturk and other rural areas are losing the few healthcare services they have left.

I ask the Minister of State to clarify the following. Why did the developer pull out of this project? What engagement has the HSE or the Department had with the developer or even alternative partners for this project? What immediate steps are being taken to ensure that the people of Kanturk are not abandoned and that the healthcare facility will actually be provided? We have to be honest: if this were an urban area, the service would be already up and running, but because it is Kanturk and it is rural, it is put on the back burner once again. The people of Kanturk deserve this centre. They have waited so long for a healthcare facility like this. The healthcare they need must be local, accessible and reliable.

I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I await her response.