I wish to raise the issue of ambulances. There was a report in The Clare Herald this week about an ambulance that was sent from the Carraroe base in County Galway to an incident in Kilkee, two hours away. Luckily, an off-duty paramedic was there to help. There is a major shortage of ambulance drivers. Meanwhile, paramedics who are being trained in the University of Limerick are not accepted by the National Ambulance Service, NAS, and NAS personnel from County Clare were in Northern Ireland carrying out Covid testing. I readily accept that Covid poses a threat to health and life, but ambulances are sent to threats to health and life and we do not have enough ambulance drivers. The introduction of the European standard, under which an ambulance can only take one person instead of two, was never accompanied by an increase in the number of ambulances. The Tánaiste spent time in the Department of Health as Minister. What is being, and will be, done about this shortage of ambulances across the country? Ambulances are being deployed two or three hours from their bases because of the shortage.

There have been many changes to and real reforms of the NAS and its service model in recent years. The service works more like a fleet now than a series of bases. Often, the ambulance that is nearest to the person is the one that is sent regardless of the distance from the base.

The budget provides an additional €8.3 million for investment in the NAS. That will continue to develop and improve the service and also extend the hear and treat model, which is used successfully in other countries.

Sitting suspended at 1.06 p.m. and resumed at 1.46 p.m.