Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Berry for raising this important issue. I absolutely will take that meeting. We would benefit greatly from that expertise and listening to those individuals. I am happy to do that.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of road safety as we face into another bank holiday weekend. Everyone needs to be conscious of what are called the killer behaviours that can take place on Irish roads. The Government and I, working with the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, and the Ministers, Deputies Ryan and McEntee, have put particular emphasis on road safety in recent weeks. We have met the Road Safety Authority, RSA, and An Garda Síochána to hear what more they can do urgently to address the issue. Following that meeting, we agreed a number of immediate measures that could be put in place, including further public awareness campaigns and increased expenditure on them, which people want and expect to see more of on their TV screens and hear on their radio stations, increasing public awareness of enforcement plans by An Garda Síochána, steps to resolve the suspension of data sharing between the RSA and local authorities and investment to deliver safety improvements on our roads. I also convened and chaired a meeting of the Government's ministerial road safety committee to ensure early progress on these issues and other responses to the recent increase in road deaths. This is in addition to the Road Traffic Bill 2024 brought forward by the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, which was passed by the Dáil on 6 March and the Seanad on 11 April and is due to be signed into law shortly. The Bill deals with a number of issues.

As the Deputy said, aeromedical services are a highly effective means of reaching patients in remote areas and in vital situations where road ambulances would be incapable of achieving an effective or a timely response. I am very aware of the calls for multidisciplinary teams on board. This has been raised on a number of occasions.

It is important to say that in terms of consultant-led HEMS response, the HSE National Ambulance Service, NAS, provides two consultant-led HEMS responses in Ireland, both of which the Deputy mentioned, with additional aeromedical support from the Irish Coastguard. Both HEMS responses provide fast access to life-saving pre-hospital emergency care interventions at the scene by highly-trained advance paramedics. The focus on HEMS in Ireland is on providing rapid access for patients to the most appropriate clinical care but this is an area in which we should seek to do more. We should examine our responses and we should be willing to listen to new ideas. I am, therefore, very pleased to inform the Deputy that the HSE’s National Ambulance Service is now about to commence a feasibility study of physicians crewing on the NAS HEMS aircraft next month with the trial expected to last around four months. This trial will see the NAS affiliated emergency medicine consultants with considerable experience in pre-hospital emergency medicine undertaking a number of rotations per week on each of the HEMS aircraft alongside advanced paramedics. The NAS will then evaluate the information gathered from the trial to determine the clinical competencies best suited for the HEMS service and how best to deploy these in the future to support optimal clinical outcomes for patients. I very much look forward to taking that meeting and hope that this trial gives us some good information.

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