Ambulance personnel on strike in Loughglynn today
Ambulance personnel on the picket lines in Loughglynn this morning.
Sinn Féin TD for Roscommon/Galway, Claire Kerrane has joined ambulance personnel on the picket lines in Loughglynn this morning.
Speaking earlier, Kerrane said: “I am proud to stand with Paramedics on strike in Loughglynn this morning.
“Paramedics, Advanced Paramedics and other grades have waited 6 years for pay increases recommended by an independent report in 2020.
“Talks have come and gone since with more modernisation and work put on frontline workers with the promise of better pay to follow and it has not.
“Over the last 20 years ambulance personnel have taken on more and more and payscales haven’t reflected that.
“They have given the HSE six years. Enough is enough.
“Offers made to date to avoid this strike have been rejected as they give an increase in basic pay but reduce premium pay. Giving with one hand and taking with the other.
“Since my election in 2020, I am proud to have built relationships with Paramedics and Advanced Paramedics and to have delivered a much improved ambulance service in County Roscommon - 24/7 cover in Loughglynn which had been an ambulance blackspot and a full roster of Advanced Paramedics in Roscommon Town, for the first time in 3 years.
“One thing we need across the State is more frontline workers, we know we are 1000 Paramedics short. If we don’t pay them for the work they do, we can forget it.
“Where is the Government? They need to step in and instruct the HSE and the National Ambulance Service to come to the table without any preconditions.
