Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I did not get an opportunity yesterday to contribute to the debate on the National Ambulance Service. I want to take this opportunity to address the urgent need for extra ambulances and ambulance staff in the west Cork area. The Taoiseach knows well the unique geography of west Cork and that it can take anything up to three hours to travel from Cork University Hospital to Castletownbere. It is unique and it needs extra ambulances and extra ambulance staff. There is a €200 million allocation in the budget for ambulances in 2022. We need to see this translated into extra ambulances and extra ambulance staff. The ambulance staff themselves are concerned about the lack of provision. This should include extra support for the Irish Community Air Ambulance service. This is a fantastic service, which has faster response times, faster transport of patients from the incident to the hospital and better outcomes. It needs to be supported and be part of the solution for an area such as west Cork.

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