Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 26 Sep 1996

Vol. 469 No. 2

Written Answers. - Ambulance Services.

Cecilia Keaveney

Question:

69 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Health whether a service classed as an emergency service by the Review Group on the Ambulance Service in November 1993, should be entitled to the terms and conditions of an emergency service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17118/96]

Cecilia Keaveney

Question:

73 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Health the steps, if any, currently being taken to address the conditions of employment for provincial ambulance drivers and to review their needs as the public's link to hospital care. [17122/96]

Minister for Health (Mr. Noonan,

Limerick East): I propose to take Questions Nos. 69 and 73 together.

The report of the Review Group on the Ambulance Service was published in November 1993. The group, in their report, stated that the ambulance service is an emergency service similar to the Garda and Fire Service. The report of the review group has been accepted by Government and forms the basis of Government policy in relation to the ambulance service.

While the ambulance service acts as an emergency service in respect of its accident and emergency work, approximately half of all ambulance calls are not of an emergency nature but are related to the routine transport of patients. In addition, classification as an emergency service does not suggest that ambulance personnel are being asked to carry out the same duties as either the Fire Service personnel or indeed the Garda.

A claim was lodged by SIPTU on behalf of ambulance personnel and controllers in provincial locations in 1993. The claim sought parity of basic pay with their counterpart grades in the Dublin ambulance service where agreement had already been reached. In February 1994 during the pay talks which formed part of theProgramme for Competitiveness and Work discussions, agreement was reached to restore basic pay parity with Dublin, payment conditional on agreement to a range of productivity-efficiency measures, with referral for binding third party decision in the event of disagreement on any of the proposed measures.

Negotiations have been taking place since then to try to reach agreement on a number of productivity/flexibility measures. This has been a complex set of discussions in the context of the publication, in December 1993, of the report of the review group on the ambulance service which heralded a new strategy for dealing with the major policy issues which had arisen in the ambulance service and which had not been addressed in a comprehensive way.

A number of outstanding issues were referred to the Labour Relations Commission in January 1995. Arising from this, a set of proposals was agreed and put to a ballot of the membership. In July 1995 SIPTU advised that the proposals had been rejected. A number of meetings have been held since then to try to progress these talks to a satisfactory conclusion. An intensive series of discussions have taken place in the last few months in which progress has been made on a number of the outstanding issues. It is anticipated that one further meeting will be held under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission in the coming weeks at which it is hoped the small number of issues remaining can be fully resolved. With the monetary aspects of this deal already agreed, my Department is anxious to finalise the details of the productivity and flexibility measures at an early date.