Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. Of all of the issues that can be debated in this House, very few will generate the kind of emotion that debates on the ambulance service will do. Myself and my colleagues from west Cork have had some first-hand experience of this recently when there was a major reconfiguration of the service there. During the debate a lot of agendas and scores were being settled.

While I do not ever like to play party politics, it is ironic for the party opposite to have tabled this motion, given that it gifted this Government a service that clearly was not working as it should. They then criticise us when we take on the amount of reform that we have done, through the National Ambulance Service, despite having promised not to do Punch and Judy politics. This is a classic example of opposition for the sake of it. Indeed, some other speakers are guilty of that charge too. I regret that is the case. Everybody opposite has spoken about more resources but I have yet to hear any of them say where they would like the resources to be taken from. Until people stand up and take courageous decisions and rise to that challenge, a lot of what they are doing is empty, nauseating and very dispiriting. It is no wonder that people are so cynical about politics.

I mentioned the reform agenda and the reconfiguration that took place. Experience in west Cork demonstrated that the service was in need of very substantial reform. We have moved away from a system where ambulances were on call. In the past, when somebody called an ambulance, a call went through to the drivers who were in bed asleep. It could take up to 20 minutes to mobilise drivers, get them into the ambulances and on the road, heading to rural parts of west Cork. Thankfully, that system is now gone and we have moved to an on-duty system. Ambulances are on duty 24 hours a day and people can now call an ambulance and it is ready to go immediately. In addition, a more important development is the introduction of rapid response cars. There was an issue with ambulances going from places like Clonakilty or Dunmanway to Cork city, waiting outside the accident and emergency department for the trolley to come back, with the ambulance parked up and two paramedics sitting there for hours on end, leaving areas without cover. In that context, I wholeheartedly welcome the introduction of rapid response cars that never leave the area. They constantly drive around and are deployed so that they are within 20 minutes or less of any area in west Cork. If my dad, who is in his 83rd year, had a stroke - God forbid - or my young fella started choking, I would be very grateful to see a rapid response car at my door within ten or 15 minutes, with two highly trained paramedics and the best of equipment in the back. People need to start recognising and appreciating the value of that and understanding that it does not always have to be an ambulance.

I concur with the previous speaker on the issue of waste. Paramedics will tell one about people ringing up with very minor and trivial issues but the ambulance crew has no choice but to collect them and bring them to hospital. They can then be left for hours outside the accident and emergency department waiting for the patient to be seen and either discharged or admitted. The new paramedic cars are a very substantial development and I commend the Minister, the HSE and the National Ambulance Service on their introduction.

An additional €3.6 million has been invested in the ambulance service this year but I am a firm believer that it is not all about resources. It is about how we do what we do and that is the difference between this Government and our predecessors. The solution to everything from Fianna Fáil for 14 years was to throw more money at it, with the result that we quadrupled the bill for health during that time.

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