Last weekend the National Ambulance Service announced cuts to staff hours in counties Cork and Kerry that would have led to ambulance bases being closed one day a week. In north Cork, there are five ambulances and one would be lost each day and two on a Wednesday. West Cork has four and would lose one a day. Thankfully, those latest cuts have been shelved, but there is no doubt the service is under savage pressure. A week and a half ago, a player who suffered a serious injury was waiting 85 minutes for an ambulance at Páirc Uí Rinn. It is unfortunately far from the first instance. I recall an instance in May very similar to that. The service is under savage pressure. There is a workforce plan or a capacity plan. Unfortunately, it seems like a bit of a fiction. The proposal was to double the number of ambulances and paramedics on the road. It does not seem like we have seen anything like that, but perhaps the Taoiseach can enlighten me. Is progress being made in that regard and how is it intended to reach that target of doubling the number of paramedics?

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter and acknowledge the significant concern there was in Cork and Kerry this week. I am pleased my colleague, the Minister for Health, intervened to stop that proceeding and is now working to ensure funding is provided to augment front-line services because I acknowledge that, despite the additional budget we have put into the National Ambulance Service, there are service pressures in Cork and Kerry. I will have to ask the Minister to come back to the Deputy specifically on the workforce plan and how best to achieve it.