Alan Kelly (Labour)

I request that the Minister for Health and Children be invited to the House for a debate on the ambulance service, an issue I raised previously on the Order of Business and on the Adjournment. There is a danger of going down the wrong road in terms of developments in this critical service, on which I received some disturbing evidence in recent weeks. Press reports have covered this issue. The manner in which the ambulance service in the mid west has been treated recently is disturbing. Recent decisions, based on clinical procedures, to bypass hospitals constitutes a separate debate. Ambulance drivers need clear direction, training and support from the Department and from the HSE that will allow them do what is a very difficult job. Unfortunately, in the space of two weeks they were given two different directives, one which allows them, in certain circumstances, to bypass certain hospitals and bring patients to major trauma hospitals if they are over 55 years of age, and the other relates to patients under the age of 55. Such directives do not constitute a clear direction. The HSE would not admit that technically it had made a mistake. Instead it engaged in a spin on the issue and said this was a procedural matter with which people like myself were trying to play politics. Ambulance drivers from across the mid west have told me that what the HSE has proposed is unworkable.

This issue comes on the back of a number of others. The Government gave a commitment that advanced paramedics will be allocated to work with the emergency medical technicians in the ambulance service. The allocation of such personnel is way behind schedule, which is particularly disturbing. Some ambulances now carry only one stretcher and advanced paramedics are required because the capacity of the service in that respect has halved. Furthermore, emergency medical technicians require training, which is also behind schedule.

The ambulance service has been increasingly privatised. We hear stories that this is the development in certain circumstances, but it has become more of an issue. Ambulance personnel have expressed concern to me that the personnel who provide the service are not trained to the required standards. We could have a crisis on our hands if private ambulance personnel deal with cases with which they are not qualified to deal.

I agree with the sentiments of previous speakers who raised the issue of the funding of primary schools. The primary school network has pointed out that parents have to sell jam cakes and engage in other activities to raise funds for schools. That is disgraceful. I was contacted in this regard by schools I attended. What does the Government propose to do about the removal of the summer works scheme? Its removal is of concern to Members across the House as Members on the Government side have raised this issue.

I hope the Cathaoirleach will allow me to say the following——