Dr. Niall Herity:

----- the Deputy or me travelling between Cork and Belfast, Waterford and Belfast or Cork and Dublin. Of course, it reflects the real world everywhere else.

The 90-minute travel time is a standard set by the acute coronary syndrome programme of the HSE. Senator Coffey has pointed out the variability in transport time or travel time that can occur, but that is really an international phenomenon. That exists for people in the north and west of the country and so on. The point of setting a standard is at least to give clarity to the ambulance crews on whether to transport a patient.

It was important to get those real-world ambulance transport data because they showed that the catchment isochrones or time travel zones were substantially more or greater than elsewhere.

Was I happy with the resources I was given? I was. The six-week timeframe for this tranche of work was challenging. I recognised the urgency of the work being undertaken. I recognised the urgency of the context in which I was being asked to undertake the review and the impatience of people to see some sort of outcome or solution.

On reflection – someone else used the term earlier – I believe this is how all similar reviews should be undertaken in future. It was clear to me that by setting a six-week timeframe everyone involved in the process was fully concentrated on the job at hand. Every time I asked for data, information or anything, it came back to me within a day or two. It was a substantial body of work to undertake in six weeks. Someone described it as six months' work done in six weeks. I reckon that is not far from the truth. Anyway, I was more than happy with the resources provided to me and the responsiveness of those whom I approached for information, data, briefings and documents.