Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To be fair, the net issue leading to problems in certain cases is a lack of staff. It is not a lack of funding; the budget is there. The service is actively recruiting. It is bringing people in from other jurisdictions and trying to bring paramedics who qualified here and travelled abroad back to Ireland. However, there is a global shortage of paramedics and advanced paramedics. The service is doing all it can to make sure places are filled. Through the education system, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, and the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, are working closely together to ensure we have a pipeline of people coming through the education system with the training and skills they need so they can join the National Ambulance Service and fill the gaps that are there. It is the case that shifts should be covered and there should be a full complement of professionals at all times to provide the service to our people. We are conscious that this is a service that people only ever call on in an absolute emergency, very often at the darkest of moments of crisis in the life of an individual or family. That is why we will do all we possibly can to make sure the service is of a standard that people expect.

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