Gorey Primary Care Centre ‘five years away’ despite medical services in the town at ‘bursting point’
Wexford PeopleA new primary care centre in Gorey remains at least five years away despite medical and dental services in the town being at “bursting point”. Although the HSE has confirmed that it is due to appoint a developer to begin construction of the facility by the end of June, the cathaoirleach of Wexford County Council (WCC) Councillor Joe Sullivan is sceptical about the delivery of the project.
“As far as I can see there’s very little going on here,” he said following a meeting of the Regional Health Forum. “We have got to the stage where the HSE is in the process of sorting through the tenders and trying to finalise a preferred option and that’s due by the end of Q2., so that’s the end of June.
“But we got to stage two on the last occasion, two or three years ago, and we didn’t progress any further. In my opinion we are not yet within five years of the provision of a primary care centre.”
At the Regional Health Forum meeting, Cllr Sullivan asked the Acting Assistant National Director with the HSE, Craig Doyle, for a “for a timeline as to when the facility would be reasonably expected to be operational” and was informed that, “subject to the outcome of the evaluation”, the successful tenderer will be notified in Q2 2026 and the “development will progress in line with HSE protocols and infrastructure guidelines.”
“In advance of this, it would be premature to establish definitive timelines,” added Mr Doyle.
This is the second time the HSE has put the project out for tender, on the previous occasion the provider encountered difficulties regarding the “economic viability” of the proposed project resulting in its “collapse”.
And Cllr Sullivan fears the same thing may happen again in this instance.
“It wasn’t economically viable (the last time) because the model the HSE use is to get a developer to buy, to build it, and it then rents from him for a period at a rate it sets,” he explained. “And it wasn’t economically viable for the developer to continue with the rent that it was offering.”
Noting that Gorey is one of the fastest-growing towns in Ireland, Cllr Sullivan said a number of surrounding towns had been provided with primary care centres despite not having the same population growth.
“Brand new primary care centres have gone into Arklow, Carnew, Rathdrum and Enniscorthy, basically in an arc around Gorey, while Gorey was growing at a rate of twice or three times the surrounding areas,” he said. “Our medical and dental services are at bursting point and the people who are running them are at capacity. They’re working night and day and are providing an absolutely outstanding service considering the pressure they are under.
“In addition, we have Courtown Riverchapel with a population of between five and six thousand where the only medical facility in it is a chemists.”
Calling upon North Wexford/South Wicklow TDs Brian Brennan, Malcolm Byrne, and Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin to use their influence to speed up the process, Cllr Sullivan said securing primary care centres in respective areas was the result of “political decisions”.
“When you look at the the provision of primary care centers in Wicklow, they were provided during the time that there was a senior cabinet minister in the constituency. I would be calling on our three Oireachtas members to get together and deliver a primary care centre for the people of Gorey.”