Dublin's ambulance fleet is not able to cope with the more than 150 per cent increase in callouts in the past 15 years, Ms Roisin Shortall, the Labour spokeswoman on children and the family, said.

Significant funding was needed to invest in a larger fleet "before we in this House have to debate this issue after a preventable tragedy has occurred."

Ms Shortall said the number of ambulance call-outs had increased in the Dublin region from 35,000 in 1885 to 90,000 last year. Yet the number of ambulances to cope with this demand increased from 14 to only 16.

She said she was gravely concerned by this situation. "Each and every one of the 90,000 callouts made last year could have been a matter of life and death, and many certainly were. It is essential that in a growing city such as Dublin our emergency services are provided with the resources necessary to provide a rapid and effective service."

Ms Shortall said the age of many of Dublin's emergency service vehicles was also a matter for concern, with 70 per cent of fire brigade units more than 10 years old.

In reply, Ms Mary Hanafin, Minister of State for Health and Children, said a value-for-money report on the emergency service carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor General revealed that the ambulance service in the Eastern Health Board region responded to 97 per cent of all emergency calls within 20 minutes. This response time was the fastest of the eight health board regions.

The ambulance service in the Dublin area had benefited considerably from investment in a number of important areas, she said.

Ambulance resources in Swords, Tallaght and Maynooth had been expanded, investment in the ambulance fleet had been increased and improved fleet management and replacement arrangements for ambulance vehicles had been put in place, she added.