Primary Care Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-23
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Neale Richmond (FG), Dublin Rathdown

I have to be very careful with this reply because, needless to say, replying on behalf of our mutual dear friend, the Minister for Health, whom I spoke to subsequent to receiving the script, is a balance, because I could throw back to the Deputy many of the points she has raised and somehow that constitutes a reply. I sometimes question, when replies are being drawn up, whether people look at maps or live in the areas. I know where Clonsilla is. I also know where North Strand is. It is a long way from Balbriggan. It should not take a southsider to tell someone that. I could also talk about the responsibility of every GP to make sure they are providing a genuine option for out-of-hours care for their patients as per their contractual requirements and, increasingly, how those out-of-hours services have been developed and expanded over time, and how they are working extremely well in so many parts of the country. It is a real testament not just to the Department, the HSE and the Minister but to the doctors who provide that care. I had reason to be in west Cork just last week and I read the local paper. It talked about a doctor who retired after 27 years of providing out-of-hours care to the sprawl of west Cork. I know Balbriggan is a long way from Stepaside but west Cork is even bigger again.
Crucially, it is important to look at the population in the round. The latest population figure for the wider area covered is 690,000. It is covered by five treatment centres, which the Deputy has listed, two of which are only open overnight on weekdays, and those two are open 24 hours on weekends and public holidays. The geography is vast and the requirement for a car is quite obvious. The key thing the Minister would say, which I absolutely agree with her on, is about two things in the immediate area that require attention. The first is the sheer number of GPs in the system. Genuine and forceful efforts are being made on her behalf to make sure we have more general practitioners, both through the additional annual investment and through the conclusion of the GP GMS agreement.
Something that we talk about, which is particular to this issue and which is parallel, not the solution, but complementary to it, is to have a greater D-Doc facility that goes into the north county. That is obvious to the Deputy and me, and indeed obvious to the Minister. That is ultimately the direction of travel we are taking, not just because Fingal is the fastest-growing county in the country or that Balbriggan is the fastest-growing area. I remember once when it was Stepaside but obviously it has been overtaken two censuses later. One of the key areas to cover the wider north county area is the development of the Swords surgical hub, which will be operational from this summer. It will draw on and replicate the success of Tallaght and Mount Carmel elective surgical hubs. One is in my own constituency. Indeed, I was born in Mount Carmel hospital. It will implement the use of innovative patient pathways and have a real impact on reducing waiting times for patients. If waiting times for patients are reduced, it means they will have less chance to need that out-of-hours care. Once it is fully operational, that Swords surgical hub is expected to deliver additional annual activity of 8,000 day care procedures based on the four theatres, 5,700 minor operations procedures, and approximately 18,500 outpatient department appointments. The Minister also introduced greater regulations to strengthen that. That is all complementary to the issue the Deputy raised and needs to be addressed at source. Needless to say, I will bring that directly to the Minister following this debate.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-23