By Christopher Conway
Around 15 paramedics gathered outside Sligo University Hospital on Tuesday morning as National Ambulance Service staff across the country began a series of industrial actions in an ongoing dispute over pay, recognition and working conditions.
Members of SIPTU and Unite have accused the Health Service Executive of failing to implement recommendations from an independent review, which called for ambulance staff salaries to be updated to reflect the major changes in responsibilities, workload and clinical complexity over the past 15 years.
The industrial action, which took place nationwide, was expected to impact non-emergency ambulance services, while the HSE warned of delays to some callouts during the dispute. Union representatives said the escalation reflects long-standing frustration among staff.
Speaking outside Sligo University Hospital, frontline paramedics Aoife and Ciaran said they had been left with “no choice” but to take industrial action after years of engagement failed to deliver meaningful change.
“We’ve engaged on a local level and a national level to try to get this sorted over the past couple of years, but they’ve left us no choice, and we’re here striking today,” Ciaran said.
Paramedics said the dispute is rooted in the transformation of the ambulance service, which they argue has evolved significantly from its traditional transport-focused model into a highly skilled emergency medical service requiring advanced clinical decision-making and increased responsibility.
“A lot of it centres around pay and recognition of the transformation of the service over the last 15 years,” Ciaran explained.
“It’s gone from a vocational transport service right up to a very skilled service that has taken on a lot more responsibility. The jobs have changed, the responsibility has changed, but the pay hasn’t really reflected that, and that’s why we’re here today.”
Aoife said staff are now routinely working in high-pressure environments with increased expectations placed on frontline crews, but that this has not been matched by improvements in pay or conditions.
“I think we’ve taken on a lot of responsibility in recent years, and the pay does not reflect any of those responsibilities,” she said.
“We want change to happen for everybody that’s been in the service before us, but especially for those coming into the service now. We want recognition for all our responsibilities, and we want that change to happen.”
Staff also pointed to wider pressures within the ambulance service, including long shifts, increasing demand, and what they described as deteriorating working conditions over time.
“For us certainly, I’ve seen the deterioration in conditions,” Ciaran said.
“We’re out for many hours on shifts, and altogether we’re just hoping this gets recognised out of this dispute.”
Despite the disruption caused by the industrial action, paramedics stressed that patient care remains central to their concerns, insisting that their action is ultimately about safeguarding the service’s future.
“Bear in mind the patients that we see,” Ciaran added. “We want to be able to bring this service well into the future. That’s why we’re out here.”
The paramedics also outlined their own backgrounds in the service, highlighting the experience within the workforce involved in the dispute.
Ciaran said he had worked across the west and northwest before returning to Sligo in recent years, gaining experience in a variety of roles at different stations and in different regions.
“I’ve been all over the west and northwest myself over the last couple of years, but I’m back in Sligo now for the last two or three years,” he said.
Aoife said she had spent seven years in the ambulance service, beginning her career in ambulance control before progressing to frontline emergency response.
“I’ve been five years on the road,” she said. “I actually started in ambulance control, so I was two years working there first coordinating crews, and five years on the road. Seven years in total with the service.”
She added that staff were proud to stand together in Sligo in support of the wider national campaign.
“We’re very proud to be here now and be on the picket line in Sligo and supporting SIPTU in getting the agreement on the table,” she said.
The dispute has developed amid growing tensions between ambulance staff and management over pay parity and recognition of role changes within the National Ambulance Service.
Unions argue that independent recommendations have already acknowledged the increased clinical responsibility carried by paramedics and advanced paramedics, but say these have not been fully implemented.
As a result, staff say morale has been steadily eroding, with many citing increased workloads and longer shifts as key concerns. They argue that the service has evolved rapidly in recent years, but that pay structures have not kept pace with those changes.
The 24-hour strike action concluded at 8 am on Wednesday, May 13, but unions have warned that further escalation is likely. A 48-hour stoppage is planned for next week, followed by a potential 72-hour strike the following week if negotiations do not resume.
For paramedics on the picket line in Sligo, however, the message remained consistent: the dispute is not only about pay, but about recognition of a profession they say has changed fundamentally over the past decade and a half.
“We’ve engaged at local and national level trying to get this sorted over the past couple of years,” Ciaran said. “But there was no choice.”
