Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I could not overemphasise how important this service has been. Since 2012, hundreds of lives have been saved. Senator Humphreys summed it up correctly that these are men and women, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters around the country. I know how important this was. Before we had this service hundreds of people died unnecessarily. Due to the joined-up thinking of the Defence Forces and the Department of Health, working with the National Ambulance Service and advanced paramedics, this has been a wonderful service and I hope that we can iron out these issues on a cross-party basis to continue to provide this service. I would love this service to be provided not just in Cork and Athlone but across the island, bringing in our friends in Northern Ireland. We can do that, cross-Border and throughout the country. The Minister of State sometimes has issues to deal with and I know he will deal with them.