David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Okay. In the previous contribution Mr. Kenny spoke about some of the call-outs not being calls that an ambulance crew should be responding to. There is a need for a public awareness campaign in that regard. How much of a difficulty or challenge is it, especially when there are major pressures on the system, if ambulance paramedics are being called out to calls they should not be called to perhaps because people cannot get access to out-of-hours GP services or whatever the issue might be that is driving that? How problematic is it?

Second, we have been hearing for some time about the treat and refer policy as well, where a paramedic would be able to manage a person in the home or wherever the person is at the point of the call-out and may not necessarily have to bring the person to an acute hospital, if possible. What is the position with that at present?