Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses and thank them for their presentations. I have one or two questions. We know from pervious HIQA statistics that the national ambulance service has not been able to achieve its targets. In fact, the HSE asked for those targets to be reduced. Why is that the case, if the targets have been set down by HIQA and based primarily on international best practice?

Much has been said about resources not being available to members and the need to ensure that proper resources are put in place.

The national ambulance service representative association, NASRA, has said publicly that the national ambulance service is running on empty as regards staffing and resources. The association said it does not have the personnel or vehicles on the ground to adequately meet the response-time targets being demanded by HIQA. Do the witnesses agree or disagree with that, and can they comment on it?