Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is a sensible approach. I commend NAS on it. That is where everyone wants it to get to. One of those UL graduates has recently been in contact with my office. The person is fully graduated and has three or four years' practical experience with the NHS ambulance service. The person is mad to get back here to Ireland and is finding it impossible to get in to NAS. I will read about six lines of what the person has explained as being the problem.

When candidates apply for a position with the NAS, they have to undertake a multiple-choice exam, which this person has referenced. They say that they have been dedicating every spare minute they have to studying for these exams but that, each time, they have been presented with questions that are completely out of the blue. They say it is like the questions are set up for a group of people who have been told very specific things and, once they remember them, they can answer the questions but, if you try to apply medical logic or take a scientific approach to the question, there are multiple correct answers. They actually believe that having more knowledge is a disadvantage in this exam and do not understand why the NAS cannot just take on a group of paramedics, just as it recently recruited emergency medical technicians, EMTs, and have them do a short induction programme. They say that these paramedics would be on the road within a matter of weeks and note that this is the way it is done in the UK, where it works fine. They say they do not get why the management of the National Ambulance Service is against it.

Will Mr. Morton respond to those comments? This is not an undergraduate student but a graduate with four years' experience who is unable to get through the multiple-choice examination. I have no idea what questions are on that paper but it is a barrier and there should be some way to induct such people into the Irish system. They have all of the medical and paramedic knowledge. Surely there is a better way to get them in so they can crew ambulances and go out to emergency situations.