Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 10 Jun 1998

Vol. 492 No. 2

Adjournment Debate. - Ambulance Service.

Mr. Quinn

I am raising this matter at the request of my colleague, the former Deputy, Mr. Liam Kavanagh. The official strike of ambulance drivers based in Wicklow Town is a serious cause of concern to the public in the county. The dispute revolves around the transfer of some ambulance staff from Wicklow to the new base in Arklow and the proposed new staffing levels at that base.

Since Monday, the people of Wicklow have been denied their normal ambulance service. Emergency cover is being provided by the Army. While I acknowledge that officers involved are as well trained as their civilian counterparts, they cannot know the local terrain as well. The daily cover on which hospitals rely to perform their functions is not being provided by the Army, for understandable reasons. The absence of this service will inconvenience many people and cause difficulties for local hospitals.

I am aware the Labour Court has already made recommendations in this dispute. Unfortunately, these recommendations are unacceptable to the workers involved. Their fear is that if they accept the new working conditions on offer, they will undermine the case for review of those conditions after six months, as recommended by the Labour Court. They argue that if the inconvenience is to be incurred now, the compensation should also be paid now.

This dispute has been an issue now for three days without any sign of resolution. A protracted dispute must be avoided at all costs. There is a precedent for a second intervention by the Labour Court in disputes such as this and in this situation that may be worthy of consideration. The Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Tom Kitt, has a clear responsibility to the people of Wicklow to resolve this dispute. If both sides accept the principle that a review of the workers' conditions is appropriate, it would be unfortunate if a dispute about the timing of that review would deprive the people of Wicklow of this vital new service.

I know the Minister is aware that at a union meeting today, ambulance drivers from around the country indicated their intention to support their Wicklow colleagues. This dispute is gathering dangerous momentum. Rather than being faced with a national ambulance drivers' dispute, now is the time for proactive intervention from the Minister and State agencies.

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Dr. Moffatt)

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and for providing an opportunity to discuss the issue of the Arklow ambulance base, which has also been raised by the Minister of State, Deputy Jacob and other Deputies. The ambulance service for Arklow is provided by the Eastern Health Board. Prior to the current dispute, an ambulance was assigned to cover the Arklow area, four days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. During those hours the ambulance was based in Arklow. Outside of those hours calls from the Arklow area were responded to by the Wicklow town ambulance base.

The Eastern Health Board identified the need to develop an ambulance base at Arklow, County Wicklow, and this was completed in January 1997 at a cost of £300,000. In anticipation of completion of this project the board entered into discussions with staff representatives in mid-1996 with the objective of ensuring a smooth transfer of the staff involved to the new base. As a result of failure to reach an agreement with the staff side the case was referred to the Labour Relations Commission in June 1997 and was then referred to a full hearing of the Labour Court. The hearing took place on 15 September 1997.

The Labour Court issued its recommendations which included the recommendation that the employees agree to move to the new Arklow base as a matter of urgency and that new working arrangements, involving 24 hour, seven day operation of the base, should be introduced within a period of six weeks from the date of the move. The court further recommended that when the new arrangements had been worked for six months, the parties should meet to examine their impact on earnings and any social disruption incurred. In the event of losses being established, the recognised formula for calculating compensation for losses should be applied. Failure to agree at that stage could be referred back directly to the court for final recommendation.

The Eastern Health Board fully accepted the Labour Court's recommendations. The staff moved to the new Arklow base and were still working the old arrangements, which involved the two bases in Wicklow and Arklow, but were not providing a 24 hour service from the Arklow base. The staff are seeking compensation prior to implementing the new arrangements, which is in contravention of the Labour Court's recommendations.

Regrettably, the ambulance staff involved decided to take industrial action, despite the Labour Court's recommendations and it has been necessary to engage the Army to provide the service. The Army is now providing a 24 hour service from both Wicklow and Arklow. I call upon the personnel taking part in the industrial action to resolve the dispute through the available industrial relations machinery and resume normal working.

As the issues in the dispute have already been the subject of discussions and a fair and equitable means of resolving the matters at issue has been recommended by the Labour Court, I urge that discussions resume with a view to trying to find a solution in the context of that recommendation.

The ambulance service is a vital emergency service and while I would reassure the public that the Eastern Health Board and the Army have been ensuring that the emergency ambulance service in the affected area has been maintained, I must call upon the staff involved in the dispute to consider the vulnerable group being affected by their action, to return to work and to utilise the established industrial relations machinery.

The Dáil adjourned at 11 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 11 June 1998.