Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegates for attending. A sum of €7.5 million has been allocated for 2015 for the purchase of 47 new ambulances. With 262 ambulances in the fleet, my question concerns the locations of the 47 new ambulances. What happens to the ambulances that they replace? In 2014, €11.5 million was allocated as part of the fleet maintenance programme for the purchase of 36 new emergency ambulances, two critical care ambulances, 180 new defibrillators and 20 medical resuscitation devices. To what locations where they are allocated? What happened to the 36 replaced ambulances?

I am very concerned about ambulance vehicles that are over eight years old and those that have clocked over 500,000 km. In recent months in my town, Dundalk, there have been a few breakdowns of ambulances on the way to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. Of the two 262 emergency ambulances, 150 are deployed daily and 112 are for backup. Where are all the ambulances? In the north east, there are ten ambulance centres. How many ambulances are actually in the north east?

In 2013–14, €26.2 million was invested in the single emergency control centre based in Tallaght, with backup in Ballyshannon, meaning that 11 sites were to be merged into two. Seven control sites have already joined up, leaving just four. The work on the centre in Tallaght is well under way. When will 11 become one?

There has been an increase of 10% in the number of emergency calls. To date in 2014, 217,114 calls have already been made. How can we reassure the public that one single emergency control centre will be able to cover all 26 counties in the State?