Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. If we got some proper answers, rather than smart answers, from the Minister of State, then we would not have to go down that road. From the Minister of State's answer, I understand there is a requirement to find a more suitable location for the National Ambulance Service, but this does not have to be at the expense of the good services carried out in the Cahersiveen area. If the Minister of State would only focus on the issue at hand, we are not talking about Killorglin. There are already services in Killorglin. The suggestion has been from the HSE to amalgamate the Cahersiveen services into Killorglin. The Minister of State's divide-and-conquer attitude is severely misplaced. I am asking her for a guarantee that the services currently in Cahersiveen will stay there.

This is the concern of the people in the south Kerry area from Mountain Stage, beyond Glenbeigh, and all the way down to Dromad, Castlecove and Caherdaniel. That is the area currently serviced by this team in south Kerry. Killorglin and other parts of the county have their own services. The proposal is to close the centre in Cahersiveen and move the patients to Killorglin. This is not understandable and not acceptable. It has to be the case that services in the most peripheral areas of the State are maintained in those areas. I note what the Minister of State said in the reply regarding active engagement taking place. If the level of the reply the Minister of State has received is that there are no services in Killorglin and some sort of a civil war is taking place, then this is not what is happening and the Minister of State has picked it up the wrong way, whether deliberately or otherwise. I ask her, therefore, to re-engage with the HSE down there and ensure the services currently there remain in south Kerry.

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