Search the record

these tragedies are our front-line paramedics and ambulance drivers. They are the same people I was proud to stand with on the picket lines yesterday. They are not being valued by this Government. They are going to the scenes of these accidents and seeing the darkest days

strike. Paramedics, advanced paramedics, specialist paramedics, emergency medical technicians, EMTs, and supervisors are all on strike. People who save lives are on the picket line. They stand there as a result of the Government's refusal to resolve long-standing issues relating to pay and conditions and staffing

Today workers in the ambulance service are on strike. This is a last resort which has been taken by front-line workers who have been left with no other option. We all know how hard paramedics and emergency medical technicians work and we all know … immense responsibility that comes with that role. I spoke to paramedics today who came off a 12-hour shift and are now on picket lines ready to work another shift in a few hours. These are workers who go above and beyond, who do the most important work

secretaries are an essential part of those school communities. In September of last year, that they were forced to take to the picket lines. None of them wanted to be there. I would be grateful if the Taoiseach could provide an update regarding progress on resolving the dispute

while preserving the same extraordinary pay package. Contrast that for a moment with the National Ambulance Service workers who have been forced onto picket lines simply to secure modest improvements in pay and conditions and address chronic recruitment and retention problems. Front-line workers are told there

there are jobs for the NAMA lads. They can be given anything they want. Where is the fairness? I recall standing on the picket lines with the Debenhams workers. When the Vita Cortex workers lost their jobs years ago, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael said they would make

ambulance workers should not have to strike to be heard by the Taoiseach. They should not have to stand on a picket line to fight for fair pay, recognition and basic respect, but that is what they were forced to do yesterday. They were left with no other

issue around recruitment and retention in that very service. He has also left them underpaid. Yesterday, those workers were on the picket line. If the Taoiseach maintains the position he has articulated today, we will face next week, the week after and the week after that an escalating

fulfilled that. The Government has left them understaffed, overworked and underpaid. That is why they are on the picket line today. The Minister said the quiet bit out loud. Ambulance drivers is how she described skilled professionals and paramedics

increasingly seeing the consequences of this Government's failure to support working people. Today, National Ambulance Service workers are on picket lines across the country. Our ambulance drivers and paramedics, who do such heroic front-line work, have been driven to strike over pay and conditions. Like

that their pay should be representative of that. That is the truth. They are on picket lines because of that. I say to the Taoiseach and the Minister, who is tutting over at me, that paramedics have the same responsibility and amount of training as other medical professionals

have just come from the picket line on Davitt Road, where National Ambulance Service workers are on strike for 24 hours because the HSE has failed for six years to implement a 5% pay rise that they are due under benchmarking. It is not just the HSE, though

also want to talk about the National Ambulance Service. I support all of the men and women who are standing on picket lines across the country. In Mayo, there are areas that are incredibly poorly served. In Erris recently, Stephen Lavelle, God rest his soul, was left without