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 the 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 and who even volunteer after they finish work to provide that crucial emergency care. They spoke about how much they had to upskill over the years so they can provide better and faster treatment to patients and how the evolving nature of their role has not been recognised by this or any previous Government. Instead, these workers have been ignored for years. Not only are these essential workers badly paid but they are not adequately resourced. The service is so understaffed that personnel numbers need to be doubled by hiring 1,800 workers. Is it any wonder the service is so stretched on the ground or that this is having very serious consequences for patients? In my constituency of Cork South-West, I have been contacted by people who had to wait four hours for an ambulance. Imagine seeing a loved one in serious medical distress and waiting for hours for an ambulance to arrive. It is horrific and is the result of years of underfunding, and it is something that people in rural Ireland have unfortunately come to expect. This is not the fault of ambulance workers who do their very best. The blame lies squarely with a Government that expects an ambulance service to run on fumes and workers' goodwill. It is outrageous that this Government has allowed things to deteriorate to where we are today. Ambulance workers on strike, with the service running at 46% capacity. What does the Government have to say to those people who have been fighting to resolve these issues for years? The bottom line is that staff in the ambulance service must be fairly paid and recognised for the essential and skilled work that they do. An independent report published six years ago has set out how that can be done but instead of just implementing the report as recommended by the Labour Court, attempts have been made to introduce preconditions which would see the number of trained paramedics in a crew go from two to one and in some instances actually reduce people's pay. You could not make it up. This is not something that workers can or should agree to. This is now beyond a crisis, and this dispute must be brought to an end. Will the Government commit to dropping those preconditions and adopting the McHugh and Crabtree report?
Sentiment score: -0.06
I said that neither this nor any previous Government had acknowledged in terms of pay and conditions how much workers in the National Ambulance Service had upskilled.
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In the past 15 years, they have gone from essentially being a patient transfer service to providing nearly accident and emergency-style services in any given situation.
Sentiment score: -0.48
It has not been acknowledged-----
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-----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 but are paid significantly less. That is fundamentally unfair. The Taoiseach and Minister must at least recognise that. The paramedics are going into a pay dispute and being told that, in order to get a pay rise, they have to accept a reduction in the number of trained paramedics in a crew and that, due to conditions around overtime, some of their pay might be decreased. It is ridiculous. Will the Government drop the precondition around pay?
Sentiment score: -0.14
These workers have been waiting for six years.
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