Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I, too, thank the Minister for attending the Chamber to discuss this matter. The integrity of the ambulance despatch system has been undermined as a result of events in recent days in County Kerry. I have no aspiration to condemn the idea of a centralised despatch system, but the one we have is not working. In the recent awful and tragic death of a four-week-old baby in Tralee, it has been stated that even if an ambulance had arrived earlier, it would not have been able to prevent the child from dying. I understand there was a language barrier because the family involved did not have the capacity to speak fluent English and could not identify the area in which they were living to the ambulance service. However, Ballyvelly and Spa Road are very distinct areas in Tralee and for an ambulance to take 75 minutes to deliver a person to a hospital which is effectively over the road is a problem.

As the Minister will be aware, my father is a doctor. He has told me he has never come across anything like what is happening with the ambulance service. If a doctor rings for an ambulance, he or she must answer a list of questions to justify getting it. Could doctors be provided with an app similar to the Hailo taxi app in order that their name and location appears to the ambulance centre, meaning they do not have to answer the litany of questions that an average member of the public must go through?

The IP system for landline telephones means people’s locations can be quickly identified. Similarly, GPS works for mobile phones. The Garda can identify the locality of a phone used to call its service. These existing systems should be applied to the ambulance service. The people of Kerry are not happy with these recent events and people’s health is at stake.

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