Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to take the few minutes I have to talk about the situation in Donegal. We have a significant challenge with our ambulance service across the county. On too many occasions, people in life-threatening situations have waited for too long and in some instances they have lost their lives unnecessarily. One proposal that has been put forward to the Government again and again relates to fire and rescue personnel. In Donegal, as in all rural counties, we have fully-trained emergency responders who are being totally underutilised. There are fire stations dotted throughout Donegal and staff from them could be deployed as emergency first responders in cardiac and respiratory emergencies. This is a tremendous back-up service which is ready to go and is not being deployed. I ask that the National Ambulance Service proactively engage with local authorities to make sure there is a memorandum of understanding and local authorities are not financially punished for using that.

Sinn Féin tabled a motion on the future of the fire and rescue service across the State. We have personnel who are respected and trusted in communities having to protest outside the Dáil and gather in the Public Gallery. They have asked to be deployed as emergency first responders as an initial response until the ambulance gets there. I want to impress on the Government that we have an under-resourced National Ambulance Service. The response times across the country are totally unacceptable but I must speak with authority about Donegal. I cannot understand, for the life of me, why there has been a failure to make sure the National Ambulance Service and local authorities reach an agreement, why the local authorities are not financially punished and why our fire and rescue personnel are not being deployed properly.

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