Recruiting new staff isn't going to solve the problem with the National Ambulance Service.
That's according to a representative of NASRA and the Psychiatric Nurses Association of Ireland who says the service is massively underfunded with a severe lack of ambulances and other resources.
An unpublished HSE presentation, seen by The Irish Times says there's an urgent need to recruit more staff to the National Ambulance Service.
The report warns a target to respond within 19 minutes to life-threatening cases, would be met less than 40 per cent of the time by 2027.
Speaking to RedFM News, Brendan Flynn, from the National Ambulance Service Representative Association and PNA says a lot needs to be done by the HSE before recruiting new staff.
"It's a bit like having four dinners on the table, and six people coming to dinner. Unfortunately you can't feed them all if you haven't got the food at the table.
"If we don't have the ambulances in the system, and the wider issues of funding and the wider issues within the HSE aren't addressed, unfortunately the situation is likely to deteriorate.
"We've seen a 14% increase in emergency calls since 2019, but we haven't seen a 14% increase in ambulances."
