Mr. Stephen Mulvany:

I agree with the Deputy on the importance of the ambulance service. I was lucky enough to visit the Tallaght control centre on my first day and it was great to meet the staff. The atmosphere of caring, quietly efficient teamwork was very impressive. I will get to meet an ambulance-based crew tomorrow. We agree ambulance handover times at hospitals are a significant problem. We are working with hospital staff. It is about changing mindsets. We must remember the hospital staff themselves are under significant capacity pressures, which we are trying to alleviate. It is also about working with them so that we are all thinking of the patient who could be at the side of the road needing the ambulance. It is a complicated problem that is not straightforward to solve but it is about supporting everyone to get to that same place.