A spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) has stressed that its response to the Creeslough explosion was ‘not affected in any way’ by visa issues.
They were responding to widely reported comments on the matter which were made at British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly into the operation of the century-old Common Travel Area agreement between the Republic and the United Kingdom.
It was claimed that some Derry-based ambulances were unable to rush to Creeslough after last year’s gas explosion that killed 10 people because of ‘visa issues’ involving foreign-born paramedics.
However, the NIAS released a statement within the last hour stressing that their ambulance response was ‘not affected’ by such issues.
“We have been made aware of recent media reports relating to our response to the tragic incident at Creeslough on the 7th October 2022 which state that some NIAS crews were unable to respond as they did not hold a necessary visa,” the statement read.
“We wish to put on record that the NIAS response to Creeslough was not affected in any way due to border or visa issues. No NIAS staff were prevented in crossing the border for any reason and we are deeply concerned at any reports suggesting this, as such comments will be deeply upsetting to the victims and families who were and still are affected by this tragedy.”
They added that the NIAS received an emergency call for assistance from the National Ambulance Service (NAS) in Donegal at 15:37hrs on Friday 7 October 2022, following an explosion at Applegreen Service Station in Creeslough.
“NIAS immediately dispatched a range of resources including the Air Ambulance with our Helicopter Emergency Medical Team, our specialist Hazardous Area Response Team, ambulance officers, paramedics and emergency medical technicians as well as some of our non-emergency transport crews to assist our colleagues in the National Ambulance Service. NIAS dispatched further crews on the evening of the 7th of October to relieve those who had responded during the afternoon.”
Their HART team and Emergency Planning resources, they added, remained on scene overnight and well into the weekend as they worked with their colleagues in the National Ambulance Service to continue rescue and recovery efforts.
“The unstable condition of the building made this a very difficult and dangerous scene, but our HART crews are specifically trained to deal with such incidents. Sadly, our crews also assisted in transporting some of the deceased to the mortuary in Letterkenny.
Our thoughts remain with our colleagues, friends and neighbours who were affected by this incident, and in particular those in the Creeslough community who were directly impacted.”
They also confirmed that a Memorandum of Understanding is in place between NIAS and the Republic of Ireland’s National Ambulance Service, since September 2019 to provide for cross-border assistance in the management and resourcing of emergency and urgent calls, and cross-border assistance, in a declared major incident.
”As part of our preparation for EU Exit, NIAS identified a very small number of our staff who were non- EU nationals and worked with them in regards to the necessary legislation to continue to work unhindered.”
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