Manus Boyle (Fine Gael)

I will again talk about the National Ambulance Service. I will keep bringing this up until somebody listens. On Saturday, 26 April, an 86-year-old man fell outside his home in Kilcar. His daughter called 999 at 11.02 and was told there were no ambulances available in County Donegal on the day. That is hard to believe for a county of that size. The only ambulance that was available was in Boyle, County Roscommon. She was told it would be 55 minutes before the ambulance would be there. As the Leader will know, there is a big difference between Boyle in Roscommon and Kilcar in Donegal. The daughter rang back at 11.43 to see what was holding up the ambulance and was told it would be a further 30 minutes. That was more realistic. The ambulance arrived at the house at 12.40, one hour and 40 minutes after being called. The daughter said that the staff in the ambulance were more than good. They were very good to her father and looked after him in every way. They could not have been better. I applaud the ambulance people. They are very good when they turn up. The patient arrived at the hospital three hours and 40 minutes after the first 999 call. That is totally unacceptable. The system is not working. I want an urgent review of the ambulance service. Do rural communities not count for anything in Ireland? We are out on a limb in County Donegal. This is the fourth time I have brought this up since I was first elected to this House. I ask for an urgent review to see what is going on with the ambulance service. Perhaps the Leader could try to make progress on this for me because it is vital to the people of Donegal that we get this sorted before it is too late.