Mr. Ted Kenny:

I have no doubt in my mind that delays have caused fatalities. I am conscious that we are in a national forum so I do not want to go into specifics. There have been incidents widely covered in the national media. A situation was described on Cork local radio, 96 FM, a couple of weeks ago, where a person was only 20 minutes from a hospital. I think it was his mother who went into cardiac arrest and the nearest available ambulance was two and a half hours away even though the hospital was only 20 minutes away. That individual was advised to transfer his mum to the hospital. Sadly she died in the car on the way.

The answer to the Deputy's question is "Yes", undoubtedly. It is happening across the length and breadth of the country. We saw harrowing testament in the National Ambulance Service. I am sure my colleague, Mr. McEvoy, or Mr. McCann in Dublin Fire Brigade have similar instances of that happening within Dublin city. My colleagues Mr. Ray and Mr. Lyons, who work with the NAS in Dublin city, will say the same.