James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is not too bad at the old flowery language himself. We need to stick to the facts. There has been a great deal of investment in the National Ambulance Service in recent years. We have not diminished the number of ambulances. In fact, we have added to that number by providing intermediate care vehicles and using different vehicles for inter-hospital transfers, which were mentioned by the Deputy. As a result of these measures, more ambulances are available for acute emergency care. I remind the House that despite this country's financial difficulty, this Government was the first to bring in an air ambulance service, which serves the area alluded to by Deputy McGrath. I know there were some reports and claims in local media earlier this year that ambulance services in Cashel were being downgraded. There is no downgrading of the ambulance service in Cashel.

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