Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have listened to the Minister's response and that of the Minister of State. I welcome that the Government is not opposing this motion. It is obvious to anyone who chooses to look that this service, like so many of our health services, really comes down to a postcode lottery. This is another service that is virtually on its knees. The Minister of State spoke about the valued and valuable community first responders who respond to incidents coded Delta but that is not their role. The State should never rely on volunteers to be the first responders in every situation. Even those of us who have no medical training, including me, understand that time is of the essence when it comes to an emergency situation. This is absolutely not the fault of the paramedics and the professional and dedicated staff of the National Ambulance Service. Responsibility and blame for this lies squarely with the successive governments that have allowed this situation to develop. I say that because this has been going on for a number of years. We all know of cases where people have been left waiting for an ambulance while in pain and distress and that is not good enough but we also know of people who have lost their lives while waiting for an ambulance and that is absolutely not good enough.

The staff of the ambulance service in Longford-Westmeath are absolutely burnt out. They truly are. They are doing exhausting shifts and morale is on the floor. One paramedic told me this week that they spent three hours in a queue with a suspected Covid patient. They also told me they had driven like the clappers for 90 miles to get to an incident only to discover that a child had been unconscious for more than 40 minutes after being knocked down. That is absolutely not good enough.

I have some questions for the Minister of State. How many people have applied for, been offered and accepted positions? What is the capacity of the National Ambulance Service training centres? Managers and staff are doing everything in their power but are operating in impossible conditions because there simply are not enough of them. We need to increase the numbers and to ensure that the system becomes robust so that, when we speak about community first responders again, they will be supplementing a service that is fit for purpose.

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