Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for taking time out of his busy schedule to be here. We all know and appreciate the great work the ambulance service does on behalf of all of us, sometimes in very trying and difficult circumstances. It is disappointing that 500 ambulance service personnel who belong to the National Ambulance Service Representative Association, NASRA, branch of the Psychiatric Nurses Association, PNA, are currently in industrial dispute with the Health Service Executive, HSE. Last week saw two days of strike action where the stations were picketed. The trade union is looking for something quite simple, on the face of it. All it seeks is the right for workers to join a union of their choice. rather than have one imposed upon them by the HSE. The HSE's position is difficult to understand as it has recognised the Psychiatric Nurses Association as a licensed trade union since 2010. However, it has now decided no longer to do so. This is one of the reasons for the dispute. Mr. Peter Hughes of the PNA has written to the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, asking him to personally intervene. The PNA has been in contact with the HSE on a number of occasions but the HSE has refused to engage with the Workplace Relations Commission. I wait to hear from the Minister of State whether the Minister will personally intervene in this case so that the dispute can be resolved. It does not appear to be a serious dispute which would be difficult to resolve. I implore the Minister to intervene.

The other issue relates to ambulance personnel on duty, particularly in the north-east region. Last week, for example, in the nine ambulance stations across the north east, 22 staff were rostered for duty. Unfortunately, only 12 staff, in most cases on a single basis, were rostered on. That meant that in Castleblayney, for example, where there should have been two staff on duty for an ambulance, only one was rostered. One person alone cannot take out an ambulance with the exception of cases of cardiac arrest. However, for all other call-outs, they cannot move alone. This is a serious problem. People in County Monaghan have experienced cases where ambulance response times had devastating consequences for the families involved. People fear that the chronic shortage of ambulance personnel means that a serious accident would see such a delay that it would have serious consequences for those involved. Part of the problem is the introduction of a new system of rostering by the HSE. The six new staff members that were promised to fill the gaps have not materialised and this has caused great angst among the general public. When the hospital was removed off call, County Monaghan was promised a top class ambulance service as a means of replacing the lost services. Unfortunately that has not proved to be the case. Based on the statistics I read this morning, Monaghan has a serious problem with ambulance cover. I hope the Minister of State will give some solace to the people of Monaghan and the north east generally that this problem will be alleviated sooner rather than later.