I have raised the need for a proper ambulance base for Carlow several times before. I understand Covid has been difficult for everyone. I have asked the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, to come down to Carlow and I am also asking the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, to come to Carlow to meet the staff and see the conditions that they are in. I was fortunate last summer because the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, was in Carlow and visited the base. I also had a virtual meeting with An Taoiseach recently to highlight just how serious the situation is.
I will give a little bit of the background. My understanding is the HSE is committed to a parcel of land called Kelvin Grove for the National Ambulance Service, NAS, to get a design 2 ambulance base. However, the money is not committed and I seek an update on that. I am committed to resolving what is a very serious issue in Carlow. I have worn a path to the Taoiseach's door and, of course, to the Minister's door, as I will do with the Minister of State as well. It is important that we keep communicating and get an update on this serious issue.
It is important to recognise these paramedics who are doing a great job in Carlow. The base is in a prefabricated structure which is part of a building that was a delivery unit in St. Dympna's Hospital. There are no training facilities there and their store is adjacent to a methadone clinic. The staff are professionals and deserve to be treated as such. I believe that if it were a private facility, it would be shut down today. I understand that there are some legacy issues and this has been going on for a few years. However, we saw that there was an extra €10 million in the budget. Yet, there seems to be a slowness in capital projects. The site should be moved on more quickly because it is HSE land.
When I originally brought this up a few years ago, the talk from the different Departments was that there was going to be an extension onto a building where the prefabricated structure that serves as the paramedic base is located at St. Dympna's. We have a beautiful building there and it is all stone. It is called St. Dympna's Hospital and we always call it that. While there was to be a build-on there, in the past few years we got word that the plan had changed and the paramedics were going to get a new base on the Kelvin Grove site. It right across the road, by the way, so it is very well situated.
I would like a full commitment to know that there will be a new base on the Kelvin Grove site. There have been huge issues of confusion around if it will be a build on the site they are on at present or if it will be at Kelvin Grove. It is important that we get that decided.
I raise another issue. As the base is well situated in the centre of town, there often will be ambulances outside when people pass by. However, if someone rings for an ambulance, they cannot get one because the ambulance paramedics have perhaps been moved to a different part of the country because, as the Minister of State knows, the system has changed. I will bring that up in my next slot.
There are huge issues. The lack of communication with the Department and even to myself, the ambulance paramedics and the people of Carlow is an issue. We need to have a base that is fit for purpose. Our ambulance paramedics deserve a proper ambulance base. It is only right that we now get that funding and a new base.