The Government's primary care strategy, which includes Sláintecare and the primary care infrastructure programme, aims to significantly expand primary care centres across the country. The original programme identified over 130 primary care centres. More than 100 of these centres have now been completed and are operating nationally, including one in Longford town, which serves a town with a population of 10,000. However, a number of centres remain delayed due to procurement issues, site acquisition problems or changes in delivery models. Communities and local areas in Edgeworthstown, Granard, Ballymahon and the surrounding hinterland have been waiting many years for delivery of primary care centres. In response to parliamentary questions I submitted since being elected to the Dáil going back to January 2025, we received replies from the HSE that the planning was currently progressing through design phase with a view to lodging for planning permission in Edgeworthstown. In Granard the HSE was exploring options to purchase and proceed with a capital funded centre. In Ballymahon clarifications had been sought from tender parties and tender evaluation was to take place in mid-January followed by the tender award thereafter. Further replies to parliamentary questions in late 2025 showed that basically everything was at a standstill.
Given the length of time these projects have been discussed and raised repeatedly by me in parliamentary questions and in the Oireachtas, can we outline what the current plan is for delivering primary care centres in these towns and their communities? When can we expect to hear progress on their delivery? The Edgeworthstown, Granard and Ballymahon projects are stalled with tenders submitted. All we get in replies now is that we are reassessing our options. These have been discussed for years. The people of Longford and the people of these towns deserve first-class facilities. When will I see the delivery of first-class primary care centres in the towns of Ballymahon, Edgeworthstown, Granard, their surrounding areas and more importantly their surrounding communities?
I acknowledge and thank the Minister for Health for the significant funding in the capital plan for 2026 for St. Joseph's Care Centre, a project announced by the Tánaiste a number of years ago. It is a multi-million euro investment into a state-of-the-art centre. However, we need state-of-the-art primary care centres in our satellite towns. With the announcement regarding wastewater treatment plants that can now be used for planning permission, we will see expanded development in a number of those towns with those wastewater treatment plants being put in ahead of the capital infrastructure in years to come.
