1147. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any statutory instrument, policy directive, governance framework, operational standard, or national clinical guideline formally defines acceptable maximum ambulance dispatch times in Ireland. [38865/26]
Topics / Ambulance Service
A subject heading for parliamentary questionsAmbulance Service
860 questions from 114 TDs, between 22 January 2025 and 20 October 2026.
860
questions
852 written, 8 oral
114
TDs have asked
11
parties and groups
Independents counted together
5
departments asked
Questions per month
The record holds no questions for August, when the Dáil does not sit.
Jan 2025Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions |
|---|---|
| January 2025 | 9 |
| February 2025 | 52 |
| March 2025 | 34 |
| April 2025 | 40 |
| May 2025 | 28 |
| June 2025 | 19 |
| July 2025 | 18 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 29 |
| October 2025 | 20 |
| November 2025 | 21 |
| December 2025 | 7 |
| January 2026 | 24 |
| February 2026 | 100 |
| March 2026 | 112 |
| April 2026 | 72 |
| May 2026 | 177 |
| June 2026 | 34 |
| July 2026 | 16 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 34 |
| October 2026 | 14 |
Who asks, by party
The party each TD belonged to on the day, in alphabetical order. Parties differ a lot in size, and members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them, so this shows who raised it, not how much a party cares about it.
The TDs who asked most
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them. Each question counts once.
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267
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49
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31
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25
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23
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21
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19
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18
Asked of
Debated under the same heading
Debates whose official heading is exactly these words.
The questions
1148. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the Department or the HSE maintains any national dataset recording ambulance incidents where dispatch allocation exceeded a specified time threshold; and if not, whether consideration has been given to establishing such reporting mechanisms. [38866/26]
1149. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the National Ambulance Service defines any ambulance response delay duration as constituting a potential patient safety incident in and of itself; and if so, the thresholds applied. [38877/26]
1150. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any ambulance delays exceeding 60 minutes resulted in incident reviews, serious incident assessments, or patient-safety escalations in 2024, 2025 or to date in 2026. [38878/26]
1151. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the HSE Incident Management Framework contains any specific provisions relating to prolonged ambulance response delays. [38879/26]
1152. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the Department of Health has assessed whether the absence of national reporting on extreme ambulance delays limits oversight of patient safety risks. [38880/26]
1153. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether HIQA has ever been requested to examine governance arrangements relating to prolonged ambulance response times. [38881/26]
1154. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether ambulance delays are incorporated into any corporate, enterprise, or clinical risk registers maintained by the HSE or National Ambulance Service. [38882/26]
1155. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the Department receives any routine exception reporting where NAS response performance materially deteriorates below National Service Plan KPI levels. [38883/26]
1156. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any internal review has examined whether prolonged ambulance delays should constitute automatically reportable adverse incidents. [38884/26]
1162. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health which specific body or office holds ultimate responsibility for approving, setting, reviewing, and enforcing national ambulance dispatch standards in Ireland. [38924/26]
1163. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the Priority Dispatch Standard published by the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council contains defined maximum permissible time thresholds for emergency call handling, triage, dispatch allocation, or mobilisation; and if so, to provide details. [38925/26]
1164. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the September 2025 review of the Priority Dispatch Standard identified any recommendations, deficiencies, operational concerns, governance gaps, or patient safety risks relating to ambulance dispatch practices; and if so, to provide details. [38926/26]
1165. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any formal audit, external review, internal review, incident analysis, or governance assessment of ambulance dispatch delays has been conducted by the HSE, National Ambulance Service, HIQA, PHECC, or any external body since 2020; and if so, to provide details, including dates and findings. [38927/26]
1166. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the absence of defined national maximum ambulance dispatch-time thresholds has been recorded on any HSE, National Ambulance Service, Department of Health, or associated risk register since 2020; and if so, to provide the risk category, current status, and mitigation measures. [38928/26]
1037. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any national procurement framework exists governing the engagement of private ambulance providers by HSE-funded hospitals. [36779/26]
1038. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether all private ambulance providers contracted by HSE-funded hospitals are required to meet specified national clinical governance and patient safety standards. [36780/26]
1039. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department or the HSE maintains any register of private ambulance providers engaged by publicly funded hospitals. [36781/26]
1040. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any assessment has been carried out regarding the impact of reliance on private ambulance services on continuity of care, patient safety, or response times. [36782/26]
1041. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the number of additional National Ambulance Service intermediate care staff and vehicles projected to be required nationally to eliminate reliance on private ambulance providers. [36783/26]
1042. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any review has been undertaken into regional variation in the use of private ambulance providers by hospitals or hospital groups. [36784/26]
1043. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any private ambulance providers currently engaged by HSE-funded hospitals also provide services under other HSE contracts or public procurement arrangements. [36785/26]
1044. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any national policy exists governing when hospitals should utilise private ambulance providers instead of National Ambulance Service resources. [36786/26]
1163. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 382 of 11 February 2026, to instruct the National Ambulance Service to answer the question (details supplied). [37315/26]
1246. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the National Ambulance Service maintains any internal target timeframe between receipt of a 999 call and allocation of an ambulance resource, even where such targets are not publicly reported. [37848/26]