An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-19
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Gareth Scahill (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach

Last week in this Chamber, I called for the Labour Court to get involved in the ambulance strike and support our National Ambulance Service. A planned 48-hour strike, which would have commenced today, has been stood down to allow those talks to take place. Plans remain in place for a 72-hour work stoppage on 26 May and there is also a work to rule by front-line ambulance staff that began last week and is continuing at the moment. From my experience on the ground engaging with ambulance services, some members have gone back to work while they have been striking to actually answer particular calls. I hope that the Labour Court talks develop today and that we have a favourable outcome for all parties involved.
I spoke to somebody over the weekend who had a family member who experienced an incident and they had to call the ambulance. That was at 10 a.m. on Sunday and by 11.30 a.m. they were at Hyde Park in Roscommon getting an air ambulance. They were accepted into University Hospital Galway where the surgical team was fully prepped and that individual was discharged to Portiuncula hospital in Ballinasloe last night. I want to commend the National Ambulance Service because when it works, it works very effectively. Even with the work to rule, I must commend the National Ambulance Service staff on the work they are doing. At the same time, though, we know that some areas of the country are not as well served as others.
Once again, I call for that further discussion within this Chamber on the National Ambulance Service and the distribution model, especially for areas that do not have an emergency department, such as my own home area.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:57+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-19