Wicklow primary care centres
Deputy Brady said a contractor had abandoned primary care centre projects in Arklow and Greystones, raising fears for local services. The Minister denied any link to the children's hospital, said he would get an update, and noted that 22 primary care centres were being delivered nationally.
Yesterday, Action Health Enterprises, which is engaged by the HSE to build primary care centres in Arklow and Greystones in County Wicklow, made the announcement it is not going ahead with those projects. In January, it had been granted full planning permission after a number of delays to go ahead with the Arklow primary health care centre. If anything, it gives us another reason that public private partnerships are not the best route to develop schemes such as this. It has caused massive concern in Arklow and Greystones about the future of the primary health care centre in the towns. Will the Tánaiste give a commitment that the schemes will proceed as planned, that there will be no further delays and that in no way is this linked to cuts or scalebacks in terms of capital spend linked to the overrun on the national children's hospital?
Comment on this
One confirmation I can give the Deputy is there is no correlation whatsoever with anything happening with the children's hospital. This is not an issue with capital. As the Deputy will appreciate, I do not have with me today the details on something that happened yesterday but I will get an update on it. There are 22 primary care centres being delivered nationwide this year and they are a very positive development. We are delighted to see these investments in Wicklow as well as throughout the rest of the country. I will get the details for the Deputy and I will check out and come back to the Deputy on whether a company is supposed to have withdrawn.