Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Does anyone ever feel they are going backwards at an alarming rate? During the term of the previous Dáil, people came out from the National Ambulance Service to look at a location in Conamara and, at that stage, there was really no question but that a base was needed. The idea that it does not have bases such as this and that, while waiting, it moves an ambulance into a central position is incorrect. It has a number of those in County Mayo, for example. The problem with Conamara is this. If the National Ambulance Service wants to call the nearest ambulance when its ambulance is gone, it is in Galway city. It is a simple as that. What we need is action in this regard.

If we took what the National Ambulance Service said, namely, there was no commitment to look at the optimum location in the middle of Conamara, I think it is a case of mass hallucination on the part of the participants at that meeting, both the community and the public representatives, because all of us clearly understood that the National Ambulance Service was going to look around the area and find the most suitable location. We need to stop the pussyfooting. If it is not going to do it, let it come out and answer to the people of Conamara, and say it is not going to do this.

I live in the heart of Conamara, 35 miles from Galway city and far from the services. This campaign has been going on for seven to ten years and it is time it was brought to a conclusion.

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