Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise an issue that I also raised earlier. It is with regard to demand for the ambulance service and a report from Dublin Fire Brigade. The number of call outs in November 2020 was 8,532 and in November 2021, the number was 12,657 call outs. This is an increase of more than 4,000. Is there any reason for such a change in the same month of the year?

There is such a change for the same month of the year. That is an increase of more than 50% on the previous year in one month. Is there a particular reason for that?

My other question follows on from that and relates to situations where ambulances are called out but people could have arranged their own transport to the hospital, without the necessity of an ambulance.

Mr. Liam Woods:I will respond to the first question. November last year would have been a time of societal lockdown. The data have been unusual for almost two years now because of the impact of Covid. The pandemic has had the tendency to both increase and decrease numbers. As Mr. Morton said earlier, we are comparing against 2019 numbers to get a sense of what is happening in the medium-term trend and the National Ambulance Service is well ahead of that. The trend between November last year and November this year is, in a sense, less meaningful because of the impact of Covid and the fact that society was in lockdown at that stage.

I will ask Mr. Morton to deal with the other issue raised by Deputy Burke.