Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply, although I am confused by some of it. I welcome that a safety audit was carried out on 19 October. Is it the first audit or have they been done regularly? There are 18 excellent staff doing a great job. As we know, even with their extra duties, paramedics are going into houses and testing for Covid, particularly for people who cannot travel or are not able to leave their homes, so we cannot give them enough praise. However, I have been there and although I am not a health and safety officer, I have concerns about whether a prefab is really a proper base for 18 ambulance service paramedics in 2020.

I do not think a prefab is acceptable. My biggest concern, and I have said this to the HSE and to the Minister, is we have a fabulous building in St. Dympna's Hospital, which is beside the prefab. There are vacant rooms in the hospital and if the paramedics could be allowed into the two or three little rooms in St. Dympna's Hospital that are not being used it would be very good for the paramedics and it would be good for everybody.

When people work really hard, particularly in our front-line services, and we all know the work they are doing particularly during these times, it is important that they go back somewhere that is fit for purpose. I have to say I am a little bit taken aback by the reply but I will go back and try to get more information. The only thing I ask tonight is that the Minister of State goes back to the HSE to ask it for a small bit of money to get the paramedics into the small building in St. Dympna's. That would be very good progress.

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