Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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91. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the provision of ambulance services in north and south Connemara, County Galway, in view of the repeated highlighting of serious issues in relation to same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27903/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that I met with a representative group from Connemara on 20th February last to hear their views and assure them of this Government's commitment to the development of our ambulance services. At this meeting the group highlighted a number of issues which I followed up with the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council.

It is worth noting that the Capacity Review, published last year, identifies particular difficulties serving rural areas as population density in Ireland is significantly different to that of many other countries. The Review indicated that the only practical way to improve first response times in rural areas is through voluntary Community First Responder (CFR) schemes. The further developments of a comprehensive national programme of CFR schemes has therefore been prioritised in the HSE National Service Plan 2017. The NAS continues to work with local CFR Groups across the country, and in Connemara, in an effort to enhance services and greatly values their commitment and support.

I would like to assure the Deputy that the Government and the NAS are fully committed to the provision of a safe, patient focused pre-hospital emergency care service. The Programme for a Partnership Government commits to additional annual investment in terms of ambulance personnel and vehicles. In this regard, €7.2m additional funding was provided to the NAS in 2016 and in 2017, an additional €3.6m has been provided, including €1m to fund new developments.