Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for her response. I fully understand what the ambulance service is trying to do, both in west Cork and nationally. However, I want to come back to the deficiency in the ambulance service in Skibbereen, currently and possibly for a number of weeks because this particular paramedic is on sick leave. We all have heard in recent public debates how sick leave throughout the HSE and other public bodies is expensive and costs a great deal of money. It should not cost lives and that is what the people of Skibbereen are genuinely afraid of.

Notwithstanding the progress and the future plans of the HSE for the national ambulance service, this pinch-point is a staffing issue, a resource issue and a management issue. We are in the old regime in Skibbereen and there is no reason, in the absence of these plans and dynamic deployment, that this situation should be allowed to continue. Will the Minister of State go back to the HSE national ambulance service so that the people of Skibbereen will not have to live in fear that they will not have an ambulance when called for?

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