Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to start by acknowledging the really good and hard work done every day of the week by workers in the Dublin Fire Brigade and the NAS. Despite this Government, they are holding the service together with their hard work and dedication. Even in a well-staffed service and a service where Government provides leadership - unlike in this instance - those workers are under pressure. Their work environment is naturally a pressurised one and it is made worse by the lack of leadership from the Government. Short-staffing, as the Minister of State knows, compounds the pressure that these men and women are under every day of the week. The tactic of attacking Opposition politicians is not going to work. I note that the Minister for Health is not here, but I did hear his contribution. I must say, there is something more than a little bit pathetic about trying to point fingers at Members of the Opposition and trying to twist our words. The workers in the Dublin Fire Brigade and the NAS know damn well who is on their side. They know exactly the names and, indeed, the parties of those who cut their pay when their backs were to the wall. They know exactly who imposed a recruitment moratorium from which they are still trying to recover.

On Christmas Day a relative of mine fell and hurt herself. We did not know at the time, but she had broken her hip and her femur. At 7 p.m. we called the ambulance. By 8.30 p.m., the ambulance had not arrived. We spoke to fantastic people on the line who stayed with us right the way through. They advised us not to move her but it was freezing cold and raining, and we had to move her. The woman had a broken hip and a broken leg. I drove her to hospital that night and I was terrified. My sister and I spoke to people on the phone. They did everything they could, but the resources were not there. I just want the Minister of State to know that as a member of the family who was there, it was absolutely terrifying. You do not realise how much you depend on the service until you pick up the phone. The person on the other end of the line did everything they could, but they could not dispatch an ambulance. That was the key. It was terrifying not just for me, but for all the other members of my family.

In my final moments I wish to state that men and women working in the retained fire service in Skerries and Balbriggan did medical work during Covid and have been locked out of the Covid payment because they are members of the retained service. I implore the Minister of State to discuss this with the Minister for Health to try to see if good sense can prevail in this instance.

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