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

The use of response cars by ambulance service officers is making a real difference in improving response times for patients. Between 1 January and 1 April this year, officer vehicles responded to more than 630 incidents, over 250 outside working hours. On average, the cars responded to seven incidents a day, almost three of which occurred outside working hours. The vehicles can be tracked by control centres. For example, an officer working in Wexford but with a vehicle in Limerick after hours is available to respond to incidents in Limerick for that period. The response cars are a valuable additional response resource and the officers provide an emergency service in their communities outside normal working hours. They are not paid an on-call allowance and respond to these calls pro bono. Officers using the cars also attend and manage complex incident scenes such as multiple-casualty road accidents during and after hours. Examples include the recent chemical incident in Maynooth and the national ambulance service's response to the Altnagelvin hospital fire.

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