Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 25 Jul 1996

Vol. 468 No. 4

Written Answers. - Ambulance Service.

Micheál Martin

Ceist:

172 Mr. Martin asked the Minister for Health the steps, if any, he will take to accelerate progress in the ongoing negotiations between ambulance personnel and his Department under the auspices of the Local Government Staff Negotiating Board; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15397/96]

Cecilia Keaveney

Ceist:

196 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Health the steps, if any, being taken to address the serious problems in relation to the terms and conditions of the ambulance service nationally in view of the fact that it is recognised but not treated as an emergency service. [15608/96]

Minister for Health (Mr. Noonan,

Limerick East): I propose to take questions 172 and 196 together.

The report of the Review Group on the Ambulance Service was published in November 1993. The group, in its 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 personnal 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 productive-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. In recent weeks an intensive series of discussions has been held in which progress has been made on a number of the outstanding issues. One further meeting has been scheduled with the Labour Relations Commission.

It is my hope that this issue can be fully resolved at a very early date. With the monetary aspects of this deal already agreed, my Department is anxious to finalise the details of the productivity and flexibility measures as soon as possible.