Mr. Geoff McEvoy:

I had a few pieces to add in response to Deputy Lahart's questions about mobilisation and the queues at hospitals. From the Dublin Fire Brigade point of view, they allow for approximately an hour for an ambulance call-out from dispatch to delivery at the hospital and returning to duty. That factors in 20 to 30 minutes of a hospital wait time as per Mr. Ray's contribution. Before Covid there was a small percentage of hospital waits that exceeded 30 minutes - approximately 4% or 5%. That figure has tripled since Covid. The Deputy was asking about dispatch within an hour. If we are seeing ambulances that could be returning to service idling for an hour outside hospitals, that will clearly have an impact on the wait time for dispatch to the next call.

As Mr. Kenny said, we know the problems and the staff are under great pressure. However, because of the importance of maintaining the critical chain of care, ambulance crews must stay at hospitals until they can pass over to personnel in the accident and emergency department. Unless those structural problems facing our colleagues in accident and emergency departments in hospital environments are addressed, this problem will not be entirely solved.

On resources, there was reference in our presentation to unit mobilisation. That refers to the hypothetical maximum capacity if every ambulance in Dublin Fire Brigade was on the road 24 hours a day, 365 days a week. Dublin Fire Brigade is operating at approximately 85% of that capacity. Ideally, it should be between 45% and 55%. This shows that more ambulances are needed and more personnel need to be hired because the 85% figure does not factor in break times for crew or periods during which vehicles need to be serviced. For example, an ambulance involved in an accident may be out of commission. There is no capacity in the existing service without additional resourcing.

Deputy Burke's question might best be addressed to our colleagues in management because there is communication at managerial level between Dublin Fire Brigade and the National Ambulance Service. That question might be best directed to those colleagues. I note my colleague, Mr. McCann, wants to respond.