Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)

The Taoiseach is correct about the investment, but we will not get the benefit of it because of the way the system is configured. The Taoiseach used the word "evidence". I will tell him what the evidence is. A county has no cover because the ambulance that is on call has to go to an emergency two or three counties away. That cannot be allowed to continue. That is the way Laois has been left on two nights each week. If a person is injured or is in a life-threatening situation only a mile or a half mile from the hospital, there is no ambulance to collect them. This is because the two ambulances that are there during the day have been sent somewhere else. I am not arguing for them to be kept within a strict limit, but a radius needs to imposed. I previously raised the case of a farmer who a few years ago was left lying in a farmyard in the Clonaslee area for two hours because there was no ambulance available in Portlaoise to be sent to assist him.

The officials will give the Taoiseach answers and will blind him with the figures they have available, but he needs to look at the reality of what is happening. I am spelling out the reality in black and white.

I am asking the Taoiseach to review this dynamic deployment. The Government needs to do it, invest in more ambulances and step up recruitment of staff.

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