Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)

I want to raise something I noticed last week. The National Ambulance Service was in before health committee last week to take questions. Its representatives stated, and it was reported in TheJournal.ie, that the service would be interested in having doctors going out with its crews. I found it quite amusing, considering there is a charity that works under the National Ambulance Service called CRITICAL which practises this. It has doctors on its books. The only difference is CRITICAL personnel are volunteers so they do not get paid, whereas the National Ambulance Service would pay doctors if it was to bring them out. The service is speaking about going to Scotland to look at best practices, which I find quite unusual considering we have the practice on this island already.

I ask for a debate in the House on the services provided in this country, including charity services, which are run by volunteers and need to be recognised for the work they do and what they supply to our communities. I could not name all the counties but CRITICAL is in counties Limerick, Cork, Galway and Donegal, and there is a big base in Dublin. It trains volunteers and supplies go bags and vehicles to volunteers so they can respond to calls the National Ambulance Service cannot get to, whether because it does not have enough staff on the ground or there is an overflow. It would be nice to have a debate in the House and recognise the services that play a role in this area.