Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Morton. That leads me to my next question. In the event of being in that type of fully stretched situation, does the ambulance service have the capacity to activate the entire emergency plan and ongoing plans to deal with routine requirements? Can all those procedures be activated together in a short time, without a waiting time of three, four or five hours before the plan is activated? In my previous experience on a health board, cold runs used to take place, where all the emergency services were called out and tested to see how fast they could react to a given situation. They tested those reactions to the best of their ability. Can the ambulance service call on all those in a short time? How short a time is it?