Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Maura Porter from Carndonagh was unfortunately the victim of a road traffic accident on the day before New Year's Eve. An ambulance was called to come to her support after she suffered severe injuries in the accident, which took place on Monday, 30 December. It took almost an hour for an ambulance to come to Carndonagh, unfortunately, because it had to be despatched from Letterkenny. No ambulance based in the local ambulance station in Carndonagh and no local crew members were available at that point in time. Maura Porter's family - her husband, Neil; her son, Brendan; and her daughter, Davina - had to kneel with her while they endured a wait of almost an hour for ambulances to arrive. Local doctors came to the scene, but Maura needed to get to hospital quickly. She died after she got to the hospital, unfortunately. Her family will never know whether it would have made a difference - whether her life could have been saved - if the ambulance service had arrived on time. They are calling for a full investigation of what exactly happened in this incident and for a full review of ambulance services in County Donegal. Such a review is needed in other parts of the country as well.

A full review of the service is needed to ensure ambulances are available when they are needed. It is the wish of the Porter family that no other family will ever have to go through what they experienced on the Monday night in question. I ask for the Minister of State to respond to this request by giving the House an assurance that an investigation will take place and that proper resources will be provided to ensure ambulances are available to respond when calls come in. The staff who do such Trojan work, and were so good when they arrived on the scene on the night of Maura's accident, should be given the support they need to respond to calls in the way that is expected and asked of them.

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