Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that No. 12 be taken before No. 1.

I raise a matter that was presented to us at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Health last Thursday. I refer to the HIQA report on the National Ambulance Service which is frightening. It clearly indicates that some in management in the ambulance service acknowledged that they did not have the skills required to carry out the job they were asked to do. This is a very serious issue and the committee has invited representatives of the HSE to attend a meeting on 16 December to give it some answers to learn how this situation has been reached. It reminds me of another issue I raised over six months ago. I refer to the situation where over 1,100 personnel in the HSE had been appointed without a job interview. In the ambulance service we do not know whether personnel were interviewed. If they were, how were they then appointed if they did not have the skills required? If they were not interviewed, who made the decision to appoint them? If it was identified that they did not have the skills required, why was a process not put in place to help them to acquire them to provide a comprehensive management structure in the ambulance service? The question has still not been answered as to how 1,100 personnel were appointed within the HSE without a job interview. We do not know whether they have the skills required to do the job that they were appointed to do. It is time the Minister came into the House with answers from the HSE on what action has been taken. I want him to supply us with answers before another serious report is compiled by HIQA on other aspects of the health service which are not functioning properly. I also ask that the matter be dealt with at an early date.