Mr. Ted Kenny:

The IARC is elected by our general membership. It is made up of not only SIPTU but the Unite trade union. SIPTU, Unite and Fórsa represent the National Ambulance Service. Fórsa represents the clerical staff and some officers, along with SIPTU. Unite normally represents paramedics and ambulance personnel in the Waterford area and certain parts of the north east and north west.

The IARC committee is elected throughout the Twenty-six Counties. There are 13 representatives in total and they are elected for a period of five years. That committee deals directly with management. Each IARC committee member feeds back directly to members in his or her locality. That is how the system operates. There are a series of general meetings with staff members and the officials.

I deal with the National Ambulance Service on behalf of SIPTU for all of the national issues. We have a number of local officials who deal with all of the local issues in various counties. They in turn meet members. Over the past 18 months to two years physical meetings have not happened because of Covid and a lot of meetings are now done through Microsoft Teams.