Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister addressed this with a deputation he met from Roscommon University Hospital. I thank him for that occasion because there was a great expression of views. The Lightfoot Solutions report, commissioned by the HSE and published in May, stated that the national ambulance service required 750 more staff and 250 more ambulances to ensure delivery of a safe and swift service. Only one in 15 ambulances are reaching patients in need of emergency care within the eight minute target in rural Ireland. That is not acceptable, considering that 60% of patients in rural Ireland live another 45 minutes or more from an accident and emergency department. That is the reality if one lives in central Roscommon and one is trying to get to Galway. The least we can do is ensure that emergencies are dealt with in a timely fashion by the ambulance. Our accident and emergency service has been cut and other accident and emergency services in rural areas have been closed. The one thing we must have, and which we were promised, is a proper ambulance service. That is what is required in the constituency of Roscommon-Galway.

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