Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. I welcome the fact that she has admitted there is an issue. While some of the remarks of the Minister of State are at variance with the situation, I welcome the fact that there is commitment to implement the full complement of six staff as per her statement and the fact that additional ambulance vehicles will be made available. I will be holding the Minister of State and the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, to account in this regard. Having said that, rural Ireland and regional health services are not the same as in Dublin city, where there are up to six emergency departments. Down through the years the Department of Health, in its wisdom, reduced the number of emergency departments. In the north east we basically have an emergency department in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and Cavan General Hospital.

We introduced minor treatment units in Louth County Hospital in Dundalk and in Monaghan Hospital. To leave people who have concerns and are vulnerable in rural isolation - it is perhaps not as acute in the north east as it is in other areas, although it is when compared with the facilities available in the Dublin region - is very unfair. We need to have enough emergency medical vehicles, ambulances, paramedics and, indeed, advanced paramedics available.

I draw the attention of the Minister of State to the issue of recruitment of ambulance staff, which is not like the recruitment of members of An Garda Síochána, but unfortunately it is being treated in the same way. It is a national appointment. A simple solution would be not having ambulance personnel travelling from places as far away as Donegal to work in Davitt Road in Dublin, for example. Staff should be deployed in their localities. The recruitment system for paramedics should not be national. There could be a national application system, but people should be appointed locally and the rosters would work much better.

I look forward to further communication with the Minister of State on this issue and on the concerns not only about the staffing of the ambulance service but the concerns of the people I represent who are vulnerable when it comes to the ambulance service as in the case last night where ambulances were not available and the roster was not sufficient to cover the region.

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