I want to tell the Taoiseach about the final hours of Stephen Lavelle's life, a man from Erris in north Mayo. On the night of Saturday, 10 January, he became gravely ill shortly after arriving at the pub in Binghamstown. An ambulance was called at 10.25 p.m. but despite several follow-up calls, no ambulance arrived. A doctor was called and by the time they arrived, Stephen's family were growing more and more distressed. The doctor told Stephen's son Anthony, "This is a category one emergency. You need to get him to hospital right now", but there was still no sign of the ambulance. In desperation, the family carried Stephen to a car to drive the 56-mile journey to Mayo University Hospital. His wife Martina, his son Anthony and his daughter-in-law Rebecca all accompanied him. As they drove, Stephen's condition deteriorated. He was screaming in pain. They kept getting disconnected from the ambulance service because of the bad mobile phone coverage. Stephen's head began to droop. His eyes were wide in his head. Rebecca started CPR in the car. They finally did meet the ambulance but that was when they were only three minutes away from the hospital. When they arrived, nobody was waiting for them at the hospital. Anthony ran in and got help. It was now well after midnight. Stephen's pulse came back after eight minutes of CPR. He was ventilated and brought to the ICU. Sadly, Stephen passed away the following morning. He was 68 years old. My heart goes out to Stephen's heartbroken wife and family. There are no words to adequately describe the horror faced by Stephen and his family. It highlights in a most harrowing way the severe crisis in our ambulance service. There are stories from all across the country of ambulances taking far too long to arrive. It is especially dangerous in rural areas where hospitals can be an hour or more away. We have outstanding paramedics but we do not have nearly enough of them. Four years ago, the Government was told that the service required an additional 2,000 staff by 2026 but not even a quarter of that number has been recruited. The service is badly understaffed and paramedics operate under incredible pressure. Because of a chronic lack of beds in our hospitals, ambulances often arrive at emergency departments to find that there is literally nowhere for the patient to go, so the paramedics cannot hand over care. The ambulance effectively becomes a bed outside the hospital and sometimes they are stuck there for hours, parked up rather than on the road responding to emergencies. The ambulance service is stretched to breaking point and the Government has known all of this literally for years, yet the recruitment of paramedics has not even scratched the surface of what is needed. The Government has stood by and allowed all of this to happen, and it is people at their most desperate and vulnerable moments who pay the price. Tá ár seirbhísí otharlainne i ndeireadh na feide agus ag cur saolta i mbaol. Caithfidh an Rialtas scála na géarchéime seo a aithint agus gníomhú go práinneach. Does the Taoiseach accept the scale of this crisis? Does he accept that ambulance delays put lives at risk? What will the Government do to make sure that no one ever has to go through what Stephen Lavelle and his family went through on that awful night?

Sentiment score: -0.22

I have given the Taoiseach the circumstances surrounding Stephen's death. My colleague Deputy Conway-Walsh has written to the Minister for Health setting it out. I cannot imagine the fear that must have been felt in that car that night. Imagine, on dark country roads, your father crying out in pain, your husband fighting for his life and knowing still how far away you are from the hospital. That is the cost of the failure of this service. An emergency like Stephen's should be responded to within 19 minutes. That is the rule. That is the standard. That did not happen in his case. As a matter of fact, in more than half of such emergencies the 19-minute threshold is not met. The paramedics themselves are crying out for more resources. The Government has failed to recruit and failed to resource and as a consequence, lives are at risk, and sadly and tragically, in this case Stephen's life was lost. I want to hear what the Taoiseach will do to make sure that this simply does not happen again.

Sentiment score: -0.20

A man died.

Sentiment score: -0.56