Ambulance Service

86. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the actions she is taking to address severe cultural issues as well as capacity deficits in the National Ambulance Service; the way in which she will ensure that the independent investigation delivers accountability and protect staff who come forward; the measures she is taking through budget 2027 to address significant workforce shortages, increase ambulance capacity and improve emergency response times; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [72942/26]

90. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Health the actions she will take to follow up on allegations of sexual harassment, misogyny, bullying, and intimidation in the National Ambulance Service. [72710/26]

Since I tabled this question, we had an unimaginable tragedy in Waterford. Four people were murdered; Kim, Philip, Callum, and Jayden. There are two children, Nadia and Elliot, in hospital at the moment and they were transported by the National Ambulance Service. I want to take this opportunity to commend everybody in the National Ambulance Service, particularly those who arrived at the scene, those in hospitals in Dublin and Waterford, and healthcare workers generally. I know the Minister was in contact with the hospital and the staff there were grateful for that. It shows the value of paramedics in the National Ambulance Service. There are other issues that could be raised in the context of this question but not given the circumstances. I spoke to paramedics on the ground about what they have to respond to, the tragedies they come upon and the scenes they have to deal with, which are unimaginable for any of us. That is their work and they do it all of the time. I want to commend them and I know that the people of Waterford are really grateful to them. We talk about heroes. The people who were on the scene dealing with unimaginable grief and trauma and children in unthinkable levels of pain were heroes. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank paramedics, staff, firefighters, An Garda Síochána and all first responders, but particularly those ambulance paramedics who arrived on the scene.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 86 and 90 together. I thank Deputy Cullinane. He has put that so beautifully on behalf of his community, the hospital and the paramedics in his area. I too acknowledge the scale of the tragedy that occurred in Waterford, the deaths, the violence and the unimaginable trauma for the children, their neighbours, families nearby and the people who arrived on the scene first in most exceptional, traumatic circumstances. I want to acknowledge the work of the ambulance service, the paramedics and all of the first responders who come upon such scenes, on behalf of all of us, to provide emergency care in unimaginably difficult circumstances. As the Deputy said, they do that every day. This was a particularly acute tragedy in particularly difficult circumstances. I want to pay tribute to Ben O'Sullivan and all of the team at University Hospital Waterford who have done an exceptional job, both in caring for everybody but also in stabilising the two children so that they were able to travel to Crumlin. I also pay tribute to those who transported them to Crumlin in those circumstances and the team at CHI in Crumlin who have provided the very best of care possible to those children. I thank all of them for the very difficult work they have been doing and continue to do. Deputy Cullinane is right to highlight this work. As we speak about the ambulance service, we are so aware as public representatives that the NAS ambulance teams are turning up in every circumstance, including the most difficult, and doing that every day. They had a derogation yesterday from the strike activity and continued to provide emergency care up and down the country. It is also true that there are other issues we must address and do so properly in this forum and other forums. I can update the House on this occasion or another occasion on the steps being taken to improve the cultural issues that exist in parts of the ambulance service. These do need to be addressed but that never takes away from the scale, quality of care and commitment that paramedics up and down this country provide and the events in Waterford are the most acute example of that.

Of course, I would have raised different issues and we would have had a different conversation but I want to stick with the theme of the importance of the National Ambulance Service today, if that is okay with the Minister. I deal with paramedics, as does the Minister and every other Member of this House, all of the time. We know that there is always frustration when paramedics cannot get to a scene on time but that is not the fault of paramedics. We know that we need more of them and the Minister has said that she is committed to training and hiring more paramedics. We also know of the cultural issues that are being investigated at the moment and we will deal with those in the next number of weeks and months. Given what I have had to deal with, what the people of Waterford are dealing with and particularly what those paramedics have dealt with, I need to reinforce the point that they go above and beyond the call of duty. I spoke to a lot of paramedics, as did Deputy Conor McGuinness, at the picket outside the hospital yesterday. They were traumatised for their colleagues and said this is the most difficult part of their job, particularly when there are children involved. I finish where I started by commending them on the work they do and thanking them on behalf of the people of Waterford for being there quickly and dealing with what was an unimaginable situation.

I agree with every word. One of the things we want to make sure to follow up on, as we do in every case but particularly here, is to make sure those teams get all of the appropriate support they may or may not need over the next period. Of course, this is part of their job and they know this is what they may meet at a tragedy of this kind or at other incidents that happen, such as car accidents. However, this is an acute tragedy and I will be following up to make sure the appropriate supports are available for them, their team and the teams in the two hospitals that have provided care.

I thank the Minister.