Vol. 492 No. 1
153 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he has satisfied himself with the standard of the emergency ambulance service in the north Lee area of Cork city; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13591/98]
The provision of ambulance services in the Southern Health Board area is the statutory responsibility of the Southern Health Board which has primarly responsibility for the standard of service. Earlier this year I announced that measures for monitoring and assessment of ambulance response times and quality of care were being introduced this year and work in this regard is ongoing.
This year I provided an additional £620,000 to the Southern Health Board for the development of its ambulance service. This is the highest level of funding which has been provided to the board in a single year since the publication of the report of the Review Group on the Ambulance Service in 1993 and brings to approximately £1.9 million the total funding made available to the board for this purpose.
