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

I am looking for confirmation on a situation to do with an ambulance base in Carlow town. This has been going on for a very long time. Carlow has an excellent paramedic service but it is in a building at St. Dympna's Hospital that is not fit for purpose. We were originally told that the service would be moved to another part of the building at St. Dympna's. We subsequently believed that was to be changed. According to our capital plan, which was great, Holy Angels Day Care Centre will get its new build on what is called the Kelvin Grove site in Carlow town, which is HSE land. We then received word that the ambulance base would be built in Kelvin Grove as part of that plan. Again, there has been no clear confirmation of anything that will happen.

This situation is very unfortunate because we have the best of paramedics who have always worked so hard, especially during the Covid pandemic. I know many of the lads in Carlow and I see how hard the men and women paramedics work. They are excellent. The building they are in is not fit for purpose. Is there funding in the capital plan? What is the situation as we go forward? We need to give information to the paramedics and let them know what is happening. Without confirmation of the funding it is very hard to know what is happening. I brought this matter up during Questions on Promised Legislation and have tabled parliamentary questions on it. This has been going on a long time. It is not something that happened yesterday or today but has been going on for years now. What is the update on it? I ask the Minister of State to come back to me, hopefully, with an answer on it.

I also raise a second serious issue. There is a massive number of long delays in accessing ambulances because the system has changed in Carlow. Ambulances are often sent to other counties because of our location. When an ambulance is gone, there is no ambulance to replace it so we are experiencing shortages. There is no ambulance there and it is not acceptable. I have heard reports of people in life-threatening situations waiting 90 minutes or more for an ambulance. I have had calls from elderly people who have had to be brought to an emergency room in the back of a family member's car because no ambulance is available.

My concern is because of what happened recently. All ambulance calls are now managed through the central National Emergency Operations Centre. It is supposed to ensure that the most urgent calls get the highest priority response, regardless of the location of the ambulance. This is a major issue. So many things are now happening. We have a base that is not fit for purpose, our ambulance paramedics are leaving our county and people in Carlow are suffering. I can tell the Minister of State that there is anger out there among people who want to know why they are waiting so long for an ambulance. This is not just in Carlow. Approximately two or three weeks ago, Deputies and Senators from the south east had a virtual meeting with the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, during which issues concerning ambulance service delays were discussed.

What is being put in place in that regard? Did the Minister talk to the Minister of State about this? What is the update? Will there be a new base for Carlow town or what is the situation? What is the progress on it? Where is the funding and is it in the capital plan?

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