Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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665. To ask the Minister for Health the number of projects that have gone to tender or commenced construction by the Health Service Executive under the Government stimulus plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25566/14]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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While the PPP primary care centre project referred to in the July 2012 the PPP Stimulus Plan has not gone to tender or commenced construction yet, considerable progress has been achieved to date. Although it was decided that the HSE would retain responsibility for processing the locations through the planning process, this process ran in parallel to the normal long preparatory PPP period that is common to all PPP projects. Nevertheless this project is still on target for delivery in late 2016 / early 2017. As at end May 2014, planning permission has been awarded at eight locations.

The National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) published a Prior Indicative Notice (PIN) / Pre-Qualification Questionnaire in the OJEU on 19 December 2013. Four submissions were received by the closing date which was 10 March 2014. It is expected that 10-14 sites (indicative number 12 based on affordability) will be delivered as part of a single PPP contract with the remaining centres to be delivered by the HSE using other procurement means. Information can be located at the following web address - . Health care services to be delivered at the PPP locations will include General Practitioner (GP) services and in addition a number of centres will include a wider range of community based services, for example, dental services, community mental health services, child and adolescent mental health services, early intervention teams, and doctor on call services.

The development of primary care is central to the Government's objective to deliver a high quality, integrated and cost effective health care system. Supporting infrastructure, procured through a combination of public and private investment, will facilitate the delivery of multi-disciplinary primary health care.