Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the fact the Minister has attended to take this matter, given his particularly busy schedule today. He is also getting ready for tomorrow.

Approximately three weeks ago, a 13 year old girl waited for an ambulance for 50 minutes after she took seriously ill at her home in west Roscommon. She suffered a serious neurological attack. Only for the help of a neighbour, a former nurse, her family is convinced that she would have died. As the emergency occurred, her father rang 999 and was told that the ambulance would not arrive for in or around 50 minutes. It was coming from Sligo, which was the nearest an ambulance could be found. At this stage, the man's daughter was seriously ill. She was struggling to breathe and he asked for an emergency response. Without a doubt, an air ambulance should have been called in at that point, but none arrived. What a traumatic and stressful situation for any family.

When the ambulance arrived, the staff were excellent. In a short space of time, they stabilised the girl and her breathing and made her comfortable.

When the accident and emergency unit in Roscommon closed, we were guaranteed an increased ambulance service for the county. That has not happened. The people of west Roscommon have been left without a service. While I acknowledge that, from time to time, the air ambulance does a good job and gets to places quickly, this was a serious situation and one about which I am sure the Minister would be concerned.

In January 2016, an ambulance base was opened in Loughglynn, close to where the family lives in west Roscommon. However, no permanent ambulance staff are located there. An ambulance comes from Roscommon University Hospital and parks at the building when one is available.

Will the Minister consider putting in place a permanent ambulance team in Loughglynn to serve the vast countryside of west Roscommon? It is desperately needed, which is a message that the Minister has also been given by others. I hope that he will be able to bring solace to the people of that area so that they do not live in fear of being unable to get an ambulance quickly when it is urgently needed.

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