Clare Independent TD Michael McNamara today raised the serious issue of ambulance availability in the Dáil following an incident at the weekend where a road crashed victim waited over two hours for an ambulance to travel from Galway.
The National Ambulance Service would not answer any questions in relation to Sunday’s incident in Kilkee.
The man, a motorcyclist, was injured in a collision with a car at Gratten Street in the town at around 4.30pm.
It’s understood that there was no National Ambulance Service (NAS) resource available in Clare or Limerick at the time and that paramedics were dispatched from Co Galway.
A National Ambulance Service rapid response advanced paramedic (AP) unit was also sent to the scene from Co Galway. It’s understood the AP was attending another call in Gort when they were mobilised to the Kilkee incident.
Firefighters from nearby Kilkee fire station were requested to attend the incident while an off-duty local paramedic also provided care for the casualty until an ambulance arrived.
The motorcyclist, who may have suffered a medical episode before the collision, was taken to hospital almost two and a half hours after the incident occurred. The driver of the car was uninjured.
Today in the Dáil, Deputy McNamara questioned Tánaiste Leo Varadkar about what is being doing to increase capacity and response times in the National Ambulance Service. He raised the matter after an ambulance was sent 175km from a station in Galway to a road traffic collision in Kilkee at the weekend.
Mr Varadkar responded by saying €18m has been allocated in Budget 2022 towards the NAS.