Dr James Reilly
By Gary Culliton. The Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly, has moved to correct the record of the Dail in relation to the selection of a site for a primary care centre in Balbriggan. Speaking in Leinster House, Dr Reilly referred to a letter he received from the HSE.
That letter from February 1, 2010, states: “The HSE has selected a preferred provider for expressions of interest.” It goes on to say: “The proposed site will be accessible by pedestrians off Dublin Street and should be well served by Dublin Bus.” The letter appeared, therefore, to support a report in the Irish Independent and another on Morning Ireland, said the Minister on October 3. The Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn, had referred to it during Leader’s Questions in the Dáil and Dr Reilly also referred to it on RTÉ radio.
“I have had this double-checked with the HSE and am advised that, in fact, the reports are incorrect,” Dr Reilly told the Dáil. “In fact, the letter from the HSE in 2010 refers to another site in an area called Stephenstown, some distance from the site owned by Mr Murphy. It appears that option ran into a number of difficulties and in November 2010, the letter of intent was withdrawn. The HSE returned to the other interested parties and ultimately selected developer Mr AJ Noonan. In September of last year, the HSE signed an agreement for lease with Mr Noonan to develop a primary care centre. This information has been provided to us by the HSE.”
Dr Reilly insisted: “The lease might have been signed during my tenure, but the deal on the site that was first favoured fell out in November 2010 and new negotiations started elsewhere. This was before there was an election and I became the Minister for Health.”
Dr Reilly said of the site in Balbriggan: “The site is under the control of NAMA and as a consequence, Mr Murphy does not gain. NAMA gains, if there is any gain. I have no business connection with Mr Murphy. I had no discussions with him about the primary care centre and I have absolutely no role in the selection of a site. As I stated on the radio today, the only site over which I have control and which I did not want included because I was becoming Minister for Health is the site I own in Swords.”
Dr Reilly told the House that the site in Swords “has nothing to do with me. The two doctors who were co-owners with me have nothing to do with the new site either”.
Referring to allegations that the list of centres had been altered at an earlier date, Dr Reilly said he had “confirmed with HSE that it was it that moved those things around the list, not I. There were several lists. There was a list in 2007 and 2008. Such was the priority given to Balbriggan and Swords that they were approved by the board of the HSE in 2008. If they were priorities in 2007 and 2008, surely Balbriggan’s situation has become more needy rather than less, given its population explosion and unemployment level. Similarly for Swords.”
Dr Reilly said of the Balbriggan site: “NAMA takes control of the loan and the site but it does not necessarily incur all the legal costs in transferring ownership only to sell it on again. It controlled this de facto and any moneys arising from it, as far as I understand it. In this case from what I heard, there will be no gain for the individual. Things that are in the PPP, if they get done by lease, will go out of it, and other elements may be brought into the PPP. Agreed leases may fall through, as the Balbriggan example nearly did because of a lack of agreement between NAMA and the developer, AJ Noonan, who tried to buy it.”
gary.culliton@imt.ie