Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am very happy to look at the situation in Bantry General Hospital. We are expanding access to the medical assessment units as part of an expansion in urgent care. If there is a shortage of fleet in the Deputy's area, I will talk to the National Ambulance Service about that. We have invested a significant amount of money in the service this year and last year. It is expanding and modernising its fleet and hiring and training many more paramedics and advanced paramedics. The ambulance service is not there yet but it is rapidly moving in the right direction. I will raise the concerns with the National Ambulance Service.

Significant investments are being made in Cork University Hospital, Kerry University Hospital and the Mercy University Hospital. This will also help a great deal in the Deputy's constituency. While these hospitals are not located in rural areas, increased capacity in them will make a difference at a regional level in terms of the more localised services the Deputy referenced. I will certainly raise with the HSE the issues the Deputy has outlined.

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