Manus Boyle (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I express my sincerest condolences to the families of the two young boys who drowned in Buncrana over the weekend. It was yet another tragedy in Donegal. I send my heartfelt apologies to the families.

I stand here again to speak, like a broken record, about the National Ambulance Service. On Saturday, I got a phone call from a mother in Portnoo, Ardara. On Wednesday evening, her son took sick with a spiking temperature. He started convulsions and had rapid breathing. This scared the life out of the family. They rang the ambulance at 9.30 p.m. It was 11 p.m. before the ambulance got there. This little boy has profound disabilities and has a liver disease. He is very well cared for by his mother and father. The paramedics were fantastic with him. When they arrived, they engaged with him and got him to Letterkenny University Hospital. The mother queried what if this happens again. It took an hour and a half. I do not want to feel like a broken record, but every day I come in here I have constituents coming to me saying how bad the ambulance service is in Donegal. We all talk about the golden hour. The previous two times I stood in the House, I spoke about this matter. In one case, it took over an hour and a half. In this case, it was an hour and a half before the ambulance reached them. Everybody is busy but there has to be a profound review done for Donegal. We seem to be left on our own all of the time to get things done. I hope that with the help of the Leader, we will try to get something moving forward on it.