Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support the protest outside the Dáil which will take place this afternoon by the National Ambulance Service Representative Association, NASRA, the members of which are in dispute with their employer, the HSE. NASRA, which represents more than 600 ambulance personnel, currently falls under the umbrella of the Psychiatric Nurses Association, PNA. This group of workers within the healthcare system want to have their own union and the HSE does not want them to. They have held two strikes in the past couple of months and the issue needs to be dealt with. Ambulance service workers are an integral part of the health system. They not only provide an emergency response service and deal with the most gruesome situations on some occasions, but they also provide an essential service on a daily basis for the health service. Many of these workers are highly-trained paramedics and highly qualified. I urge the HSE to do the right thing and recognise their union. They have unique issues to themselves which set them apart from other interests of workers within the health service. I have spoken with the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, regarding the issue and I have pressed him to resolve it. I have every confidence that he will take this issue by the scruff of the neck with a view to having it resolved in the short term. I look forward to meeting some of these workers later. It is a worthwhile ask that they are making and they should be supported. It is a reasonable request.