Dr Brendan O'Shea

We begin with the National Ambulance Service engaging in a strike today in this dispute over pay.

The HSE is warning of significant disruption to ambulance services.

Pickets are at ambulance bases around the country as part of the action, which started at 8 o'clock this morning.

It'll last for 24 hours.

Well, I'm joined now by Dr Brendan O'Shea, who's Assistant Professor in Medicine at Trinity College Dublin.

Good morning to you, Brendan.

Good morning, Brendan.

Can you hear me?

Good morning.

Good to have you with us, Brendan.

From your point of view, are there immediate patient safety risks when something like this happens?

And also, I mean, there may not be an official, we might not see officially that there is an impact here, but it is likely, isn't it, to impact people's behaviour when they know that there is a strike on and they're considering whether they will seek medical help or not.

Well, from what we see this morning, it seems it's been going on since 2020 when it was first before the Workplace Relations Commission.

And all of us, I think, would have imagined that it would have been solved and sorted before it got to this point.

Well, just on that broader point, we were speaking last week about this proposal, which is doing the rounds in government that students who finish their medical degrees would be compelled to stay here.

They would be told that they will get a break on their student loans or they'd get a bursary in order to have them stay working in Ireland after they qualify.

Would you support something like that?

Well, listen, I've distracted us both now from the issue at hand, but I was interested to get your view on that topic.

Coming back to what's happening with the ambulance service.

I mean, we see that if this isn't sorted out, there'll be a 48 hour stoppage on the 19th of May, 72 hour stoppage on the 26th of May.