Emergency ambulance breakdown figures revealed for Donegal region

HSE ambulances broke down 24 times last year in Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan, new figures from the National Ambulance Service have revealed.

There were 203 occasions of ambulances breaking down and requiring roadside assistance across Ireland in 2016, TheJournal.ie reports.

Concerns raised over the condition of the national ambulance fleet brought to light an incident when two wheels came off an ambulance travelling with patients from Letterkenny University Hospital to Galway.

The incident in 2015 outside Sligo Town involved a patient on a life support unit, who was unhurt.

Almost 5% of the National Ambulance Service (NAS) fleet currently has more than 300,000km on the clock, which is the limit for vehicles in An Garda Síochána that are retired from operation.

In 2016, the data showed that a 24-hour breakdown and recovery service had to be dispatched on 45 occasions in the Dublin area and 63 breakdowns occurred elsewhere in Leinster. 25 ambulance breakdowns were in Connacht, 46 in Munster, and 24 in the three ROI Ulster counties.