Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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194. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide, in tabular form, the additional number of vehicles which the national ambulance service has taken on in 2015, indicating the different types of vehicle, such as patient-carrying ambulances, rapid response vehicles, etc; the expenditure on each type of vehicle and the number of each; and the number of such vehicles that the service has decommissioned in 2015 to date. [33823/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy may wish to note that the National Ambulance Service (NAS) operates its fleet in line with the requirements of CEN 1789, the European Union standard for ambulances. The NAS has a fleet of over 520 vehicles which travel over twenty million km each year. Fleet management policies in place, minimise, as far as possible, the potential for vehicle failure. Daily vehicle inspections are carried out by ambulance crews, and a defect logging system is in place. Replacement of stock within the fleet runs at up to 15% a year and, in 2015, 62 new ambulances will be added to the fleet, at a cost of €7.5m. The NAS adheres to vehicle manufacturer’s specifications for service schedules and intervals. In line with current manufacturer and warranty requirements, each manufacturer’s main dealer network carries out the majority of heavy maintenance work.

As this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.