Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

There have been several ambulance crashes in Cork in recent months. Deputy Sherlock gave one example of an ambulance that had been on a 600 km journey. The standard of driving in the service is high, so we must ask what factors are at play. Could it be the case that fatigue might have been a factor in the other cases? It is not at all unusual for there to be overruns in the schedule for an ambulance team. Overruns of up to five hours are not unknown. Often, an overrun can be linked to intercounty run and sometimes to an interprovincial run. Not only are these overruns contributing to fatigue, the situation is compounded by the fact that ambulance teams are often being forced to work through lunch and dinner breaks.

I will pause while the brothers have consultations over here. Sorry, folks; I am trying to speak. The ignorance of it. It is astounding.

The point I am making is that the situation is compounded by the fact that ambulance teams are often being forced to work through lunch and dinner breaks. While the working time Act provides for rest breaks to be ignored in the event of an emergency, there can be no real argument that this clause is being seriously abused by the National Ambulance Service management. What is being asked of ambulance personnel may not stand outside of the law, but it certainly stands at complete odds with anything that might reasonably be expected of a worker.

Will the Minister commit to publishing the results of the investigations into these crashes when the reports are complete? If fatigue is a factor, and I strongly suspect it is, there must be no cover-ups. This is a major issue in the ambulance service. The most consistent voice within the National Ambulance Service raising the issue of fatigue over the past ten years has been NASRA, whose members are part of the PNA. These are issues that would have had to have been addressed by now had NASRA and the PNA been at the table. Yet, the Minister, this Government and the previous Government, which the Minister supported, have denied them that place at the table in a clear example of modern-day 21st century union busting.

With more than 500 members, NASRA is, without doubt, one of the two largest trade unions in the National Ambulance Service. Why does the Government continue to deny it a place at the table? When will it change this union busting policy?

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