Mr. Bernard Gloster:

I read a report as recently as last week about the concerns that have been expressed about response times, particularly for priority calls. I thank the Senator for recognising that while I am not the director of the National Ambulance Service, I am, to be fair, the CEO of the Irish health service, of which the National Ambulance Service is a component. It is something I take seriously. I talked about changing the management team process and bringing together those 15 people with a few of them in the centre. On my second day in the HSE, I met that entire group of senior people and the one person I ensured will be a part of that process from now on was the director of the National Ambulance Service because, to be fair to him, and in order for him to do his job and get the support he can from the service, and for us to be able to challenge the potential for improvement within the National Ambulance Service, he needs to be right in the centre of the process. The National Ambulance Service is vital. It needs to be at the active centre of what I am doing, and it will be.