Hi I'm an Irish nurse and I've been following the issue via Tom's blog for some time now. I think it is ridiculous that the ambulance crews are getting so much grief over something so simple as getting the meal breaks that they are entitled. They do not seem to want to supply enough any more emt/paramedics and ambulances which are evidently needed. It's blatant cost cutting. The Irish government do some pretty stupid stuff too. A few years ago, the Health Service Executive (formely the health boards) went ahead and bought a number of new ambulances without consultation with the crews. The crews refused to drive them as they were not covered bytheir licenses (there was a lift on the back whose weight put them over the category on a number of people's licenses). The issue eventually got resolved. It would have happened a lot faster had the government consulted with the crews.