Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State sincerely for her response. She comes from County Waterford, a big county. I live on the southern extremity of County Clare, close to the Limerick border. The village of Cross, near Loop Head, is about one hour and 40 minutes from where I live. I could get to the Kildare Village retail park as quickly from my home. That shows how vast the county is. It takes people living in that village an hour and 40 minutes to travel to UHL. When someone has a cardiac episode, the first 60 minutes is crucial in terms of protecting the heart, salvaging whatever you can and keeping someone alive. That so-called golden hour simply does not exist geographically for people living in rural regions. Therefore, they depend on the National Ambulance Service.

Unfortunately, it is a loaves-and-fishes scenario with ambulances and there can be many calls to the dispatch centre. Someone has to triage which call is attended to first. The Minister of State mentioned that the National Ambulance Service had to deal with the highest acuity calls. I outlined two episodes, one in Doonbeg on a roadside following a road traffic accident and the second the case of a woman who was unresponsive in her home. At least in Doonbeg, first responders and the fire service were able to relay, through emergency terminals, how things were. When something goes wrong with someone at home and that person is unresponsive, though, what level of acuity is that given?

Only one thing will fix this. We need an extra ambulance base. I understand there are plans for one in Kilrush. I would love to hear some detail on that. This issue underpins the need for a new hospital and 24-hour accident and emergency department, a campaign led by Friends of Ennis Hospital, including a mutual friend of the Minister of State and I, Angela Coll. We need to do something dramatic to address the shortcomings in healthcare.

Many wonderful things happen in our hospitals each day, but people who live in the peripheral areas of north and west Clare need better ambulatory care. Moreover, they need better access to acute hospital care. I hope the HIQA report that comes out next month will reflect that fact, because there can be no turning back. I do not want one of these families to endure what we endured on 2 November. An acute situation on the roadside can very quickly become a tragedy where a family gathers around a graveside to bid farewell.

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