Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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840. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to unify the National Ambulance Service with fire stations as advocated by the Chief Fire Officers Association in response to the recently published report commissioned by the Health Service Executive which indicated that additional staff and resources allocated to the National Ambulance Service would not enable it to meet additional targets of response times in rural Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10298/16]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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A significant degree of co-operation already exists between the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and the Fire Services in providing an emergency first responder service. However, there may be scope to further utilise fire services as a first responder for certain types of calls, where this is warranted. This will be explored with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and local authorities as part of the implementation of a wider first responder plan, in line with the Capacity Review recommendation on this matter.