Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Last week or the previous week, I raised the issue of ambulance response times throughout rural Ireland. I cited two incidents in County Monaghan, one before Christmas and one in early January, and another in County Cavan. In one of the Monaghan incidents, an individual fell down the stairs in the family home and an ambulance was called, but it took almost two hours to collect the person. The ambulance had to come from County Longford. In the second incident, an individual collapsed in Monaghan Shopping Centre and it took almost two and a half hours for an ambulance to reach the site. In County Cavan, a child took sick one day at school. When an ambulance was called, the school was told that it would take 45 minutes to get there. So concerned was the school principal about the health of the child that the school rang the local general practitioner, GP, who left his practice and took the child to hospital in his car. Thankfully, everyone is now doing fine.

I mention this matter again because, on Tuesday, a serious traffic accident occurred on the N2, the main Dublin-Derry road. I am sad to report that it resulted in a fatality. I extend my sympathy to the family involved. Two ladies were also involved in the accident. They were travelling down from Donegal. Both suffered serious injuries. An ambulance was called. It took somewhere between 45 and 50 minutes to arrive at the scene. I can only imagine how the emergency services, to which we owe our great gratitude, dealt with that situation. Two people lay on the side of the road, with another person who was deceased, waiting for 45 or 50 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. Someone must call a stop to this. Sometimes, I listen with amusement to the Government's continual focus on its new belief in and regeneration of rural Ireland, yet here we are with the most basic right of all and someone who has become sick needing to wait for up to two and a half hours for an ambulance to arrive. Enough is enough. I call on the Leader to invite the Minister to the House so we can address this serious issue before more fatalities occur.