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

I thank the Deputy for his question and, in particular, for acknowledging the great work done by front-line staff in our ambulance service. Every day across the State, our paramedics attend to an average of 769 patients. The workforce includes approximately 1,700 people, including national ambulance service paramedics and the Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance service. The Government is committed to improving our ambulance service and ambulance response times. I am prioritising the ambulance service despite shrinking budgets. I will not go back into why we have shrinking budgets, Deputy Kelleher. We all know why.

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