Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I too congratulate Senator Buttimer. I know I will be seeing a lot more of him in Carlow. I hope he does not get any ideas about running in that constituency. Again I wish him the best of luck. I wish to highlight again the importance of the meeting that was held today in respect of the cath lab at University Hospital Waterford. I know that it has been given great support here but we need the 24-hour service in Waterford. The Minister clarified last week that money was not an issue. We need to get that sorted and it is an urgent request.

I also want to bring up the issue of today's report in The Irish Independent, which I know has been brought up previously, regarding the new figures that show that Carlow, Sligo, Meath, Longford, Donegal and Laois sometimes have just one ambulance on call at night. That has happened on a regular basis. I looked into the logistics of the ambulance call-outs. The ambulance base has to either ring Dublin or Donegal. When there is a call-out they wait for a reply from Dublin or Donegal. The decision as to who goes on a call is based on the nearest resource. Recently, for example, an ambulance needed to be dispatched to Hook Head in Wexford as the ambulance from Wexford was unavailable due to either being on a call-out or being elsewhere. In this case Carlow paramedics were sent on a 108 km trip to the person in Hook Head and then drove 66 km to University Hospital Waterford. This would be the norm for the Carlow crew who are left to cover the counties of Laois, Kildare, Kilkenny, Wexford and Wicklow, leading to Carlow having one of the busiest paramedic crews in the country. This is unacceptable. It is frightening to think that there is only one ambulance covering this area. We need to get this addressed. This is an urgent matter.

To go back to rural Ireland again and the subject of broadband, the Minister, Deputy Naughten, has said that it will be 18 months before broadband will be considered again. This is urgent. People depend on broadband, whether for business or whatever. We need to get this sorted as soon as possible.