The provision of ambulance cover in West Cork has been raised in the Dáil.
Four ambulances have been allocated to the region - one full time in Castletownbere, another in Clonakilty and two others that are available to the west Cork area
However local Independent TD Michael Collins claims that the ambulance that is meant to be stationed full time in Castletownbere is more often than not in Kerry leaving locals in West Cork extremely vulnerable
He says he has raised the matter with the HSE and he is still waiting for a comprehensive response and solution to the matter
Speaking to RedFM News Deputy Collins says ambulance response times in West Cork are being severely impacted.
"I could name out numerous cases in the past few weeks where families have come back to me, they've rang for ambulances and there's no ambulances in Cork county.
"So they're waiting on an ambulance to come from Kerry or elsewhere to come back into west Cork.
"In some situations people have been waiting over two hours in most situations - it's shockingly unacceptable.
"Every time I contact the HSE they say they'll review the situation, they'll look into it.
"The ambulances are not in west Cork, we're left wide open without an ambulance service most days of the week."
In response to a statement requtes from RedFM News the HSE says all calls to the National Ambulance Service are triaged and responded to appropriately.
The statement adds that the nearest and most appropriate response is dispatched with the most urgent calls prioritised.
The ambulance service operates on a national basis and mobilises responses to calls for assistance based on patient needs and ambulances may travel to various locations irrespective of their base as they are not confined to work in geographical areas.
The statement concludes that 999 calls are clinically triaged and prioritised and if the 999 call is not time critical, then during busy periods, these calls will wait longer for a response.
