asked the Minister for Health for details of the Eastern Health Board plans for new health centres in the Dublin area; the proposed facilities and the average size of the catchment areas.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin Health Centres.
23.
The Eastern Health Board's major capital programme for the current year includes provision for the construction of new major health centres at Rowlagh (Clondalkin) and Ballybrack and for the planning of a new major health centre in Swords. The 1979 programme also includes an allocation to enable the board to acquire sites for health centres in areas to be selected.
New major health centres are already under construction at Coolock, Blanchardstown, Tallaght, Ballinteer and Finglas and a major health centre in Kilbarrack is in planning.
All these centres will provide a comprehensive range of community based services, including medical, dental, public health nursing paramedical, social work, home help and community welfare services and will contain child health, specialist and community psychiatric clinic accommodation. They will cater for areas of 25,000 to 35,000 population. It is a very fine programme.
It is a very fine programme if it can be implemented in a reasonable time. In view of the rapid expansion of the County Dublin area in particular, would the Minister consider making a capital allocation available to the Eastern Health Board over the next few years so as to provide realistic health centres in the developing new communities in the same way as a special case was made of Dublin for local authority housing purposes in the last year?
I agree that there is a very important situation prevailing on the outskirts of Dublin city in a number of these areas, including the health services. However, I would have thought that the programme which the health board are engaged in—Coolock, Blanchardstown, Tallaght, Ballinteer, Finglas, Kilbarrack, Clondalkin and Ballybrack—represents a fair spread around the areas in which the Deputy is interested.
Is the Minister aware that at the moment the health board are asking the local authorities for temporary letting of houses so as to provide temporary partial services in new community areas because they realise that it will be some years before they can provide permanent health centres? Because of that crisis situation I make that suggestion.
I will certainly consider anything like that.
Is the Minister aware that in at least one of the cases where he has cited the planning of a new health centre, no site has been acquired as yet by the health board?
I am aware of the difficulty of procuring sites and I can only rely on the activity and ingenuity of the health board in that regard. I will endeavour to provide them with the necessary finance and I hope they will be able to get the sites and to get on with the building.
Would the Minister consider establishing a crash programme on the same basis as was done for local authority housing?
The programme on hands is very extensive and is being pursued rapidly, and it should go a long way towards meeting the problem.
I will take the matter up privately with the Minister.