Today, front-line emergency workers are on 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. Ambulance workers do not want to be on strike; they want to be at work helping people and saving lives. The Government, however, forces them to fight for respect, recognition and fair pay. It is to their credit that they will continue to respond to life-threatening situations during this stoppage. This strike could have been avoided, but the Government has let the situation fester for six years. Back in 2020, an independent report recommended the modernisation of ambulance services. This was to be driven by the upskilling of front-line staff and the delivery of pay that recognised their enhanced roles. Ambulance workers kept their side of the deal. They have taken on advanced training, education and additional responsibilities. They have transformed this service from a transport service to full pre-hospital emergency care. The Government broke its side of the deal, however. For years now, it has refused to deliver the fair pay ambulance workers deserve. It has left the ambulance system stretched to breaking point. Six years ago, the Government was told that more than 2,500 additional ambulance workers would be needed by this year. Only 500 have been recruited since. Overworked paramedics are under extreme pressure as a result and are struggling to plug the gap caused by acute staff shortages, and patients pay the price. People are left waiting far too long for ambulances. The situation is particularly bad in rural areas, where it can be hundreds of miles to the nearest hospital. People have died after delays in an ambulance getting to them. The Taoiseach is aware of this. I previously raised with him the harrowing death of Stephen Lavelle in Mayo, and there have been others. I spoke to one paramedic yesterday who told me that the workers have children to feed, bills to pay, rent, mortgages and kids in college in respect of whom they have to pay big fees. She said that a strike was the last thing they wanted but that they had no other option. She also said that the matter could be sorted out at the stroke of a pen if the Minister just looked at the work they do and ensured they are paid fairly. The Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, refuses to intervene, however. Yesterday, at a meeting in Clare, she shocked people when she referred to paramedics and EMTs as ambulance drivers.
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There is the problem in a nutshell. The Government is blind to the expertise and skill of those who save lives every day. It asks ambulance workers to upskill and then refuses to pay for the upskilling properly. Is iad Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael atá freagrach do staid na seirbhíse otharchairr inniu. Is teip ghlan é nár chuir siad pá cóir ar fáil d'oibrithe. D'fhág siad iad gan aon rogha. Ní féidir leanúint mar sin. Caithfidh an Rialtas idirghabháil a dhéanamh chun teacht ar réiteach láithreach. The Government's inaction and refusal to listen has effectively left people without an ambulance service today. What is the Taoiseach going to do about it? So far, he has stood back and acted as a commentator but he is not a commentator; he is the Taoiseach. The striking ambulance workers are right to demand fair pay, proper conditions and safe staffing. When will the Government deliver?
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Because you have.
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I am sorry a Cheann Comhairle but the question was put to me.
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If everything is so hunky-dory, why are they on strike? Is the Taoiseach trying to suggest that the ambulance workers are wrong? Is he trying to suggest they are imagining the circumstances they are in? Here is the core dishonesty in the Taoiseach's reply. This situation has dragged on for six years and the Government has demonstrated an absence of good faith and respect. It asked the paramedics to step up. It asked them to upskill, to retrain and to take on greater responsibilities. They have done all of that. They were happy to do it, because they want to provide the most excellent service they can. For its part, the Government promised recognition, staffing and fair pay and it has not 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.
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The Government has on three occasions taken a confrontational approach to workers-----
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-----namely with the SNAs, the agricultural contractors and farmers.
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It is now taking the same approach with the ambulance workers. When will it act in good faith with these people?
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And what?
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Never mind me, what about the workers?
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The Taoiseach did not just live through it. He-----
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