Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have previously raised the issue of what happened on 10 November when a 93-year-old woman fell in her home in Dundalk and was in abject pain. Her son rang for an ambulance and they had to wait from 5.20 p.m. until 9.05 p.m. An ambulance came and the service provided was absolutely wonderful. The woman and her son made sure to say this. I have tabled questions to the Minister for Health, on which I hope the Tánaiste will follow up, regarding how many people were on duty and how many vehicles were in operation on that particular day.

If you talk to members of the National Ambulance Service, NAS, they will point out particular issues. In the context of Louth, Ardee has the newest ambulance station. That was completed in 2021. It has zero capacity for vehicle expansion. The stations in Dundalk and Drogheda were not purpose built and have no capacity for further expansion to accommodate vehicles. Staffing levels are at NAS capacity 2, which means we have an insufficient service. The service lacks capacity. There are questions to answer and I would appreciate if the Tánaiste followed up on them.

See this speech in context