Family forced to drive 90km to hospital as ambulance service could not respond to emergency, Dáil hears

Mary Lou McDonald said that the Government had been told in 2022 that 2,000 additional staff were needed in the service

Tue, 20 Jan, 2026 - 16:21

Paul Hosford

A family drove their dying father 90km to a hospital as he screamed in pain because no ambulance was available, the Dáil has been told.

During Leaders' Questions, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald raised the case of Stephen Lavelle from Ardmore, Binghamstown near Belmullet in Mayo who died in Mayo University Hospital on Sunday, January 11, saying that there are "no words to adequately describe the horror" faced by Mr Lavelle's family, and that it underlined the crisis in the ambulance service.

"An ambulance was called at 10.25pm, but despite several follow up calls, no ambulance arrived, a doctor was called, and by the time they arrived, Stephen's family were growing more and more distressed. The doctor told Stephen's son, Anthony, 'this is a category one emergency, you need to get him to hospital right now', but still no sign of the ambulance.

"In desperation, the family carried Stephen to a car to drive the 90km journey to Mayo University Hospital. His wife, Martina, his son, Anthony, and his daughter-in-law, Rebecca, all accompanied him, and as they drove, Stephen's condition deteriorated. He was screaming in pain."

Ms McDonald said that the Government had been told in 2022 that 2,000 additional staff were needed in the service, but that just a quarter of that number has been recruited since.

The ambulance effectively becomes a bed outside the hospital, and sometimes they're stuck there for hours, parked up, rather than on the road responding to emergencies. The ambulance service is stretched to breaking point, and you have known all of this literally for years.

In response, Taoiseach Micheál Martin extended his sympathies to the family of Mr Lavelle but said he did not have the full details of the case. He said demand "continues to rise".

He said figures around outcomes were improving "but not where we want to be", and he would refer the case to the National Ambulance Service.

The issue of ambulance cover for the Erris area in Mayo had been raised with the HSE before Christmas by Fine Gael TD Keira Keogh. In a letter to the HSE, she said a retained firefighter, Leonard Shovlin, had raised concerns about cover a number of times.

"As recent as the weekend of December 13, he and his colleagues were called to the scene of a serious accident. A young adult had been ejected from his van into a field. An ambulance was requested. No estimated time of arrival could be given, as no ambulance was available.

"The reserve firefighters on scene, not knowing what to do, started contacting local GPs by phone and text. Even though it was at night, one of the local GPs answered and sent the locum doctor to the scene and started to make his way there himself.

That GP also contacted off-duty paramedics, who, between them, managed to get control to reactivate the off-call ambulance.

"When the doctors and paramedics arrived, they assessed the patient at the scene. The patient’s blood pressure dropped significantly due to internal bleeding. He had a fractured skull, a broken neck, a broken sternum, broken vertebrae in his back, alongside more injuries.

"The doctor estimated that this man had a maximum of an hour to live. In other words, had these local firefighters and health workers not come up with their own solutions, this patient would almost certainly have lost his life."