The ambulance service is absolutely essential. Paramedics are the first on the scene and they do incredible work, as I know from my own personal experience. However, this week, we have seen further reports of a misogynistic and toxic culture in the National Ambulance Service, NAS. Will the Taoiseach investigate this issue?

I have spoken to Kathy - that is not her real name - who has reported a paramedic who drugged, sexually assaulted, coercively controlled and raped her on multiple occasions. He apparently stole controlled drugs, namely, midazolam, which is a strong sedative, and Penthrox, a powerful painkiller, which he used against her. Despite the NAS being fully aware for over a year of a rape investigation into this man, he was recently promoted into a senior position in the service. For years, this predator has sexually harassed without consequence. At least five women suffered misconduct from him, including one he locked in a shed. Four women contacted their line managers but their complaints were not progressed.

Kathy could have been spared the horrific ordeal she has endured over a period of time at the hands of this person had the complaints procedures and sexual harassment policies in the National Ambulance Service worked. It seems a bit like what happened in the church, with offenders being moved from base to base after complaints. Paramedics are the first to the scene of emergencies. They may be on their own with very vulnerable people for a long time. A sexual predator with authority and access to drugs is a very dangerous mix. Will the Taoiseach investigate why the HSE has promoted this man and why the procedures are failing?

In July 2025, The Journal Investigates did a survey on this issue. It found that in the past five years, 85 complaints were raised with NAS management about bullying and sexual harassment. Only ten of those complaints made it to disciplinary level. In 2020 alone, there were 20 complaints. The National Ambulance Service Representative Association, NASRA, has called for an independent inquiry into the service and into these issues. In a survey of NAS staff in the north east in May 2025, 56 out of 65 women responded. One in two had experienced sexual harassment, comments or unwanted touching by ambulance personnel. One told of how a paramedic made the comment, "If you need a hand with the breastfeeding, let me know". Others experienced unwanted physical contact. One woman, Hope, who has ten years' experience in the service, was dry-humped by a male colleague. No woman should have to put up with this in the workplace and, in addition, this behaviour is a danger to the general public. Why is it being allowed? Will the Government set up an independent investigation into the ambulance service?

I thank the Deputy for raising this very serious issue in the House. I do not have the full background to the case to hand. I have read some reports in the media in respect of it. Clearly, I do not want to prejudice anything that may be in train but it is very difficult to comprehend how somebody against whom these complaints and charges have been made could be promoted. I do not have the full background to the case but it is extremely difficult to comprehend.

No woman should have to suffer such harassment or suffer, as in this case, sedation and rape. The Deputy is correct that there absolutely should be a zero-tolerance approach within the ambulance service to misogyny, sexual harassment and the undermining of women in any shape or form in their daily work. I will ask the Minister for Health to apprise me of the background to this case and also, if necessary, to initiate a review into it. Without having the specific details of, or background to, the case, one would expect there to be norms and protocols within an organisation like the National Ambulance Service whereby when allegations of such a severe nature are made, certain actions would automatically follow.

These matters are being investigated. It would seem to be highly unusual in the public service that someone would be promoted while such substantive and serious allegations remain to be investigated. Given the gravity of what has been alleged and that it seems, from what the Deputy has said, that others have also suffered at the hands of this individual, promoting a person in that context would, in my view, represent an outlier in terms of how the public service more generally deals with situations like this when they arise. I will ask the Minister to get back to me and to the Deputy in respect of this issue.

To be clear, I highlighted a particular case but this is not about one case, as shown by the statistics I gave, the survey that was done in the north east and The Journal Investigates findings. This has been going on for more than a year. It is time for the Minister for Health to intervene. An Garda Síochána, the health service and the Army should not be safe havens for perpetrators. Unfortunately, the policies that are designed to deal with complaints of sexual harassment and violence are failing utterly to do so. Neither internal procedures nor the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, are really holding perpetrators to account. In fact, the complainants, who often are women, are the people who end up suffering in their career, in their education, as we saw with the case in UCD, or in terms of their health. In the Private Members' debate earlier, I referred to a case where a garda made a complaint of sexual harassment against a colleague. The sergeant is working away and she is off sick.

We need intervention in relation to sexual harassment. It should be a criminal offence, not just something that is dealt with through the Employment Appeals Tribunal. We need action now.

Fundamentally, in any organisation, it is about the culture. In all of the work that has been done within the Defence Forces, the one word that kept emerging in terms of all the analysis, inquiries and so on was "culture". There are numerous policies in respect of these issues but the biggest difficulty and challenge is around culture. Changes are occurring in the Defence Forces, which should be acknowledged given what has happened, and also within An Garda Síochána. Interestingly, there was a lot of resistance from those organisations to utilisation of the word "culture" and to highlighting the fact there is a problem with the culture. There was a lot of resistance at times to even articulating that in any documents pertaining to the Defence Forces. That has been my experience. To me, however, culture is the fundamental issue that underpins behaviour like this occurring on a regular basis.

It is something that has to be worked on on a consistent, constant basis to change the culture of organisations. I will revert to the Deputy.