Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The simple fact of the matter is that, as Minister has acknowledged, the ambulance service is under huge pressure. Nobody outside of the Chamber would ever criticise any of the workers. In fact, we have all been exceptionally supportive of them and that is why they have engaged with us on this matter.

When a person fell ill recently in this building, I called the ambulance service at 11 a.m. At 4 p.m. I received a call from the ambulance service and Dublin Fire Brigade to apologise and I was asked whether we still needed an ambulance. I had a conversation with the service and was told it was stacked up by the dozen. That was in Dublin, which is not a rural area. There is a fire station five minutes' walk from here. That was the call I received at 4 p.m.

This is one of many first-hand experiences we have with the ambulance service. My mother was left waiting for hours for an ambulance. She lives in East Wall and the Mater Hospital is only up the road. These are the experiences we are talking about. There are dozens of other experiences from people in the Chamber and throughout the State.

We have had extensive conversations with Dublin Fire Brigade regarding the recruitment and retention of firefighters and paramedics. Any firefighter who is a member of the ambulance service will tell us quite clearly not only that are there not enough staff, but also that there are not enough ambulances.

Today I raised the change in the children's urgent care centre from a walk-in service to an appointment-only service. One of the biggest issues parents in Dublin West are talking about is the fact that this decision will put huge pressure on the ambulance service. People cannot get appointments for GPs and will now have to go online to make an appointment for an urgent care service in the children's department in Connolly Hospital. We are heaping more pressure on people and parents, in particular. As someone who has used the children's hospital on many occasions, I know that when a child is sick a parent will not go online and self-triage, which is what the system involves. A parent will call an ambulance and go straight to Temple Street.

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