Ambulance Service
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-21
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Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (FG), Dún Laoghaire

I am very invested in resolving disputes, and that is why we put so much effort into the industrial relations architecture that we have. It is important to highlight some of the models of the proposed reforms under the agreement reached between union representatives and State representatives in those structures, for example, a modernised pay and allowance structure, which replaces a complex pay arrangement dating back to the late 1970s with a simpler, transparent structure aligned to wider HSE norms. It standardises overtime arrangements to HSE rates and incorporates rostered working requirements, including weekends and night working, to core pay structures. These are important reforms.
It is important that we discuss reform in the health service because while we can set a target of 4,000, if we are at 2,500, the Deputy and I both know that we have to deal with the practicality of today. There are 134 already in place out of the 180 posts that were funded towards the end of last year. We are desperately trying to recruit into all parts of the health service. However, it is not a realistic conversation for the Deputy and I to say that we are going to go from 2,500 to 4,000 within six months. We have to recruit where we can, and implement the reforms to make sure that everybody is working in different ways, including in a much more modernised structure. We cannot stand over one that comes from a pay structure from the 1970s.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-21