Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the issue of ambulances. There was a report in The Clare Heraldthis week about an ambulance that was sent from the Carraroe base in County Galway to an incident in Kilkee, two hours away. Luckily, an off-duty paramedic was there to help. There is a major shortage of ambulance drivers. Meanwhile, paramedics who are being trained in the University of Limerick are not accepted by the National Ambulance Service, NAS, and NAS personnel from County Clare were in Northern Ireland carrying out Covid testing. I readily accept that Covid poses a threat to health and life, but ambulances are sent to threats to health and life and we do not have enough ambulance drivers. The introduction of the European standard, under which an ambulance can only take one person instead of two, was never accompanied by an increase in the number of ambulances. The Tánaiste spent time in the Department of Health as Minister. What is being, and will be, done about this shortage of ambulances across the country? Ambulances are being deployed two or three hours from their bases because of the shortage.

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