Even as Donabate’s population balloons, HSE cancels plan to build primary care centre

As the Drogheda-bound intercity train departed Malahide and crossed the Broadmeadow Estuary, the first sign of Donabate was a yellow construction crane that towers over the peninsula’s woodland.

As a handful of passengers hopped off at the station just before 9am on Tuesday morning, construction work on a nearby housing development was already in full swing.

Distant figures in hard hats, and yellow and orange hi-vis jackets were marching through the frosty site, fitting windows on apartment balconies, and climbing into boom lifts.

Located just west of the train station, the housing development, known as The Gallery, has planning permission for 144 apartments in three blocks, ranging from three to five storeys.

Right across Turvey Avenue is the entrance to Corbalis East, a large-scale residential development, where developer Cairn Homes is building 1,020 homes. 

Everywhere, there are reminders that the population in the Donabate-Portrane area is set to rise drastically over the coming decade.

But, while the town is growing, when it comes to social infrastructure, the area is lagging behind, says Labour Councillor Corina Johnston. “We have a lack of doctors. I’m out the door with people onto me asking about doctor services.”

As far back as June 2006, when Fingal County Council published a local area plan for the Donabate area, it noted that the town was expanding and needed a primary healthcare centre.

The wait seemed to be over when, in mid-2025, the HSE informed local representatives that they had secured both a site and a developer to deliver the centre, Johnston says.

But in late December, the village was dealt a setback. Micheál Conneely, the interim national director of capital and estates in the HSE, wrote to Johnston saying they wouldn’t be entering into an agreement with the developer as they couldn’t demonstrate that the plan was good value for public money.

Instead, the HSE was looking into alternative options in the Donabate area, he said.

A spokesperson for the HSE did not respond when asked why the plan wasn’t deemed financially feasible, nor did they share any timelines on how long it would take to develop any alternative options.

It was a deeply concerning update, Johnston says. “They’ve done a complete U-turn.”

Donabate only has two GP practices, but a primary care centre could alleviate that pressure, she says. “It would provide community mental health, GPs, older person services and [children's disability network teams], which are badly needed.”

In the interim, while the HSE considers alternative options, locals are being advised that they will be able to avail of a planned primary care centre in Swords, Conneely told Johnston.

That isn’t acceptable, Johnston says. “The whole premise of national policy for primary care centres is about providing care in the community.”

One step forward, two steps back

The HSE’s efforts to deliver a primary care centre in the Donabate and Portrane area seemed to be getting back on track after a few challenging years.

In August 2023, a HSE spokesperson said they had sought expressions of interest from the private sector to provide the facility. But the submissions they got in response weren’t viable, they said.

Things were looking up when, on 10 April last year, Conneely, of the HSE, wrote to Johnston, saying they had completed a tender process for the centre, and selected a preferred operator.

In July, Conneely wrote to the Labour councillor again, saying that the HSE had also selected a location for the centre.

But, on 30 December, in response to a follow-up letter, he said that the HSE will not be entering into an agreement with the developer “as value for money for public funds has not been demonstrated”.

As such, the HSE wouldn’t be proposing to accept the tender, and instead they would review alternative options for the delivery of the centre, he said.

In the interim, the town’s existing health centre, which doesn’t have a GP, has received a recent capital investment to ensure it is fit for purpose, and the HSE has acquired a property in Swords for the provision of a “substantial primary care centre”, he said.

In addition to facilitating Swords’ population, it would also service the population of Donabate and the wider North County Dublin region, he said.

Their acquisition of that property on the Seatown Road in Swords is good news for Swords, Johnston says. “It’s badly needed in Swords. But to ask the people of Donabate and Portrane to travel to Swords is totally unacceptable.”

The distance between Donabate and the Seatown Road in Swords is 6.4 kilometres, 10 minutes via car, or approximately 27 minutes on the bus, according to Google Maps estimates.

The connecting bus service between Swords and Donabate is the 33b, which is operated by Go-Ahead, which in May, reported that there were only 13 days that month when it didn’t need to cancel a 33b bus.

Services like that worsen this situation, says Social Democrats Councillor Joan Hopkins. “It’s appalling, expecting the most vulnerable people in society; new mothers, children, older people, sick people, to use this. It’s a total disregard for the people of Donabate.”

Community care

When the council published the Donabate area plan in 2006 that noted the need for a primary healthcare centre, the population was 5,499, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO). 

At the most recent census, in 2022, Donabate’s population was recorded as 11,700, CSO data shows.

That figure is set to skyrocket in the next few years, says Fine Gael Councillor Eoghan Dockrell. “By the end of the decade, there could be close to 20,000 people.”

Alongside the planned 1,020 homes at Corbalis East, and the 114 apartments nearby on Turvey Avenue, there are up to 1,200 more homes due to be built across three phases on the outskirts of town in Ballymastone too.

It’s not acceptable to tell those people that, if they want access to a primary care centre, they will need to travel to Swords, Dockrell says. “Swords is like a small city. Donabate needs a standalone one too.”

Donabate only has two GP practices currently, and it is hard enough to get an appointment in either of those, he says.

Sláintecare, the HSE’s plan for reforming the national health and social care system, places considerable importance on delivering primary care facilities within a community, says Hopkins, the Social Democrats councillor. “It is the most cost effective way of dealing with health issues,” she says.

The government’s recent document “The Path to Universal Healthcare – Sláintecare & Programme for Government 2025+”, emphasises this. “By providing more care in local, community-based, and primary care settings, the healthcare system can better manage chronic conditions, prevent hospital readmissions, and provide care in a more comfortable and localised setting,” it says. 

Redirecting locals to Swords is at odds with national policy around the need for community-led centres, Johnston says. “We have to start providing infrastructure to people, and if the government wants to get serious about providing accessible, integrated services, they must provide a primary care centre in Donabate.”