Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The figures quoted by the Minister are obviously from a baseline in 2015. The Minister will accept that 2015 was probably during the complete collapse of investment, post austerity, into the health service. The figures being taken as a baseline are from the lowest level of staffing within the National Ambulance Service, which obviously will make the Minister's figures improve. It is very important. In 2019 there were 750 people dead by the time the ambulance arrived. In 2022 that figure was 900. The average response time for an ambulance over that period of time in 2019 was 18 minutes. In 2022 it was 27 minutes. That is an incredible figure. In the western region in 2022 one individual waited 22 hours for an ambulance to arrive. This too is an incredible figure. In the first two months of last year one person in the south of the country waited 13 hours for an ambulance to arrive. The figures are getting worse, given the real life experience of patients, and it is having a material detrimental effect on their health and lives.

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