Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

No, the figure relates to the country at large. I do not have the breakdown for Dublin and the rest of the country because the Deputy did not request it in his question. I understand private ambulances deal with emergency calls in a small number of instances. As I said, less than 4% of the budget for ambulance services is spent on private services which have a role to play in supplementing the public service in that regard. The percentage of ambulance services provided by the private sector is much larger in many other countries, including the United Kingdom. Emergency services are generally provided by the public ambulance system and that will continue to be the case.

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