National Ambulance Service recruitment
Deputy Ó Murchú raised concerns about qualified ambulance personnel being unable to secure work, following a protest outside Leinster House. The Taoiseach undertook to discuss the issue with the Health Minister.
Deputy Sorca Clarke brought up the issue James Reardon and Ruth McSkane had with costs of almost €10,000 for audiology supports and hearing aids. I brought that issue up previously with the Taoiseach and sent it to his office. It needs to be addressed.
I will briefly deal with the issue of the National Ambulance Service. Debbie McCole and many other members were outside Leinster House protesting today. I have been contacted by fathers, by uncles and by those themselves who had been qualified. One such email said:
- 9th February - received UCC final results
- 12th February - Email from HR saying there was a delay issuing our contracts as they were waiting on college results
- 24th February - HR Email 16 week extension contract and advise us of this new internal recruitment campaign and that we have to apply for our jobs
- 26th February - Teams call with the head of service for the east informing us of the situation
They thought they had jobs. They thought they were working for the HSE and they want to do so. The National Ambulance Service believes it is a problem with numbers. The HSE is playing around with this. We do need to find a solution.
Comment on this
We need to find a solution because in other parts of the health service we would love if people would stay on after training, qualifying and working. We have made huge progress on the nursing front in that regard. I will talk to the Minister for Health and get the background to this.