Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for Health for attending. There has been a long campaign for an ambulance service in north Galway and I was one of several representatives who organised a campaign petitioning to have an ambulance base located in Tuam to serve north Galway-south Mayo. We expected a 24-hour service but what we received is a day service that is not fully operational. There is not even a timetable available for the ambulance base. On the one hand, we are told there is an embargo on recruitment and on the other, we are told that there are staff willing to transfer to Tuam to provide the service and we are still waiting.

There is a new building in place and people are very anxious to have a service there. Great work is being done by the Order of Malta but the Minister probably understands that traffic to and from Galway city where the ambulances come from is a huge issue. We do not have adequate staffing or vehicles, there are over 30,000 people in the catchment area and €2 million has already been spent on the building. I know other centres are looking for funding but I make the point that trade unions have been fighting the cause of the people and there are very well-qualified personnel. Many of the staff trained in St. Brigid's Hospital in Ballinasloe. We are still using Galway city as a base even though we have bases in Loughrea and Carraroe in west Galway. Traffic is a huge issue. We are waiting for work on the new Gort-Tuam motorway to start. There seems to be some delay in getting it started. Given that work has not started, traffic will be a huge issue and there will be delays in Tuam and south Mayo, which we hope will be served by the base. I hope the Minister can give us some indication as to how the base in Tuam will proceed.

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