It will never be possible to have an ambulance, a squad car and fire engine at every crossroads, village and town, Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has said. "There will always be instances when these emergency vehicles do not arrive as soon as we would wish," he added.

Mr Varadkar, in his last ministerial questions in the outgoing Dáil, said he accepted the need to improve ambulance response times. He added that €7.2 million was being provided in the budget for the ambulance services this year.

Over the past few years, the ambulance service had undertaken significant reconfiguration and modernisation of its services, he said. “It now operates on a national and regional rather than a local basis. Ambulance resources, including rapid-response vehicles with advanced paramedics, are dynamically deployed over an area from individual stations within, and surrounding, that area.”

Sinn Féin health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said a man in his Cavan-Monaghan constituency had become ill at home with severe chest pains during Christmas week and called the ambulance service at about 8.45pm.

An ambulance on the way from Castleblayney was diverted to another urgent call. An ambulance arrived from Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim, at 11.15pm, and brought the patient to Cavan for treatment.

Mr Varadkar said he could not comment on individual cases but he would have the position checked by the ambulance service if he was given the details.

He said there was now the emergency air ambulance service which did not exist until the Government came into office. “We are moving away from an ambulance service that is just about transporting people to hospital, to one which ensures that they are given emergency treatment by paramedics, both in their homes and at the roadside,” the Minister added.