Nearly 50 attacks took place on paramedics last year but there wasn't a single prosecution.

Latest: Naas General Hospital has confirmed that its Emergency Department (ED) reopened at 9pm this evening, with the Department now receiving both walk-in attendances and ambulance admissions.

Gardaí have been called in by the HSE to investigate claims of illegal drug use by ambulance personnel.

An ambulance transporting a young patient from Donegal to Dublin broke down outside Letterkenny, so another vehicle had to be called to continue the journey.

The organisation representing ambulance personnel has said there should be a charge for people who misuse ambulances by calling them out unnecessarily.

Anyone who calls 999 seeking emergency ambulance care may no longer be automatically taken to hospital if they are genuinely ill as the under-resourced service cannot cope with demand. 

The National Ambulance Service Representative Association said the service is under-resourced and "running on empty".

The National Ambulance Service Representative Association (NASRA) has said it cannot guarantee that patients will not be affected by their work-to-rule action in protest at the extension to the Croke Park Agreement.

Ambulance personnel are joining gardaí in withdrawing voluntary cover from public events in protest against the Croke Park deal.

Recent public and media comment on the issue of pay and increments in the public sector makes no effort to distinguish between the circumstances and roles of different public sector employees in receipt of these payments.

PATIENTS could lose their lives unless steps are taken to ease the beds crisis which has left 569 people on trolleys, it was claimed last night.

Firefighters and paramedics today joined forces with psychiatric nurses to form a new trade union for frontline staff in the public service.