Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte ollmhór roimh an rún Comhalta Phríobháidigh seo ón nGrúpa Réigiúnach. An cuspóir atá ag an rún seo ná cabhair a thabhairt d'othair agus do dhaoine atá i gcruachás san áit ina bhfuil siad chun cabhrú leo leigheas a fháil agus a gcuid saolta a shábháil gan brú a chur ar chóras na n-ionad éigeandála timpeall na tíre. I pay credit to the Regional Group for this solution-based Private Members' motion and I urge the Government to take on board the solutions in it.

It is clear that the really important individuals in society, the first responders and those who bring healthcare to the site of an emergency, must be treated properly. They must be given proper pay and conditions as well as recognition because if we do not have those individuals in our time of need, we simply will not have the outcomes our constituents need.

Listening to the Minister of State's speech, the disconnect between the reality people are experiencing on the ground and the Government's rhetoric on this matter is a chasm. We have to recognise that we are breaking records in this country. We have a record-breaking number of people on trolleys, record-breaking wait times in accident and emergency departments across the State and a record-breaking number of people on waiting lists for hospital treatment. All of those performance indicators are leading to worse outcomes for patients. In many cases, they are leading to deaths. A recent report indicated that 1,300 people are dying in the State as a result of hospital admission wait times. Well over 100 people are dying monthly as a result of the pressure on our hospital services. It is not for the lack of money. We have never spent so much on health. Ireland is spending more in its health budgets than any other European country. Some 21% of the State's budget goes on health. It is not getting to the front line, however, because it is getting caught up in all the layers of management within the HSE.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to run a proper ambulance service. We know the call-out times are taking longer. Last year, it took over an hour for an ambulance to reach the life-threatening emergency in response to 6,200 ambulance call-outs. In 28% of call-outs, the paramedic is not reaching the person with a cardiac illness on time. In nearly one third of all cases where an ambulance is attending a cardiac illness emergency, it is not arriving in time. The turnaround times are getting longer. The average turnaround time in Dublin for an ambulance or paramedic to deposit a patient in the hospital is 39 minutes. This is causing major difficulties. In Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, we recently had 11 ambulances waiting for five hours to deposit patients. The system is turning the hospital into an ambulance car park. For each of the individuals affected, the outcome was reduced as a result. On the evening in question, no ambulances were available in counties Monaghan, Cavan, Meath and Louth because those ambulances were tied up in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda. That is a shocking state of affairs. The motion simply seeks to ensure we can start creating some emergency service opportunities in the community by providing paramedics with the necessary skills, investment and training to be able to provide more help at the scene of an emergency. It also seeks to ensure paramedics are given more supports for paediatric first aid training in childcare; establish a national register for working in accident and emergency departments and ensure it is properly maintained; ensure availability of basic first aid equipment in locations within the community; and establish and maintain a national first responder register.

We need to protect off-duty first responders who come across major accidents. If they help in those cases, they are liable for any harm they may cause. For example, if they come across a person who has had a heart attack and in providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation they damage a rib, they can be sued directly. We need to protect these skilled people who seek to help individuals in their time of need.

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