STRONG POLITICAL LOBBYING TO IMPROVE AMBULANCE RESPONSE TIMES IN MONAGHAN

Strong lobbying by national and local political representatives had recently taken place with the Health Service Executive in order to bring about improvements in ambulance response times in Co Monaghan, last week’s meeting of Monaghan Co Council was informed. The Council adopted a proposal from Independent councillor Paudge Connolly, seconded by Sinn Féin’s Brian McKenna, that it renew its request for a meeting with the Director of Ambulance Services for Dublin and the North East to discuss the matter. Councillor Connolly bemoaned the fact that a previous request in this regard had not been responded to, and made reference to the recent much publicised incident where a young person injured in a soccer match in Castleblayney had to wait almost three hours for an ambulance to arrive. Councillor Connolly said that at weekends ambulances customarily stationed in Monaghan were being used as the ‘go-to’ points when ambulances were required throughout the region and this left them particularly vulnerable.

Seconding Councillor Connolly’s proposal, Councillor McKenna said the request for a meeting had been made a few months ago but the relevant personnel had never responded or attended. Everyone was aware of the recent incident in Castleblayney were it had taken almost three hours for an ambulance to arrive to bring a young injured soccer player to hospital. Councillor McKenna said that himself and the Co Council’s other representatives on the Regional Health Forum, Councillor Seamus Coyle and David Maxwell, had raised this incident at a recent meeting of the Forum in Kells and…