Question from Deputy Claire Kerrane - PQ 7580-26

To ask the Minister for Health where the HSE and National Ambulance Service currently stand on delivering the recognition that has been promised to paramedics for several years; the HSEs views on the reason recent pay and recognition proposals are being repeatedly rejected by paramedic staff; whether she accepts that these proposals fail to adequately reflect the clinical autonomy, unsocial hours, exposure to risk, and severe staffing pressures faced by frontline paramedics; the steps which are now being taken to re-engage meaningfully with paramedic staff to deliver a proposal that they themselves consider fair, credible, and reflective of their role as an essential emergency service; and if she will make a statement on the matter.