DOZENS OF NEWLY qualified paramedics have been left in limbo after being informed they will not automatically receive permanent contracts with the National Ambulance Service (NAS).

Around 76 trainees were told last month that they would instead be placed on fixed-term contracts and required to compete for permanent roles through a new internal recruitment campaign. 

The move – which could see successful applicants deployed up to three hours away from their home regions – is a “total reversal” of previous NAS practice, according to SIPTU.

Up until last month, student paramedics were offered permanent contracts to take up employment working in the service.

SIPTU Sector Organiser John McCamley said its members are “deeply concerned” about their futures.

“They don’t know what the future holds. They’re worried about paying mortgages,” he told The Journal.

McCamley said the decision represents a “fundamental change” in how graduate paramedics are treated by the NAS.

“This fundamental change of not offering permanent full-time contracts to graduate paramedics is a matter of dispute,” he said. “It has intensified the dispute that already exists.”

‘We feel blindsided’

NAS correspondence sent to trainee paramedics, and seen by The Journal, states that they “will be eligible to apply” for permanent vacancies through a confined internal campaign.

This would involve written applications and interviews, a marked departure from previous NAS practice of transitioning successful graduates directly to permanent contracts.

Speaking to The Journal, one concerned graduate said that even if permanent posts are secured, successful applicants have “no guarantee” they will be placed in their current region.

Depending on how candidates are ranked and where vacancies arise, some fear they could be stationed two to three hours from home.

“We were totally blindsided,” one graduate said. “We’ve built our lives around this career, taken on mortgages and family commitments, and now we don’t even know if – 0r where – we’ll be working.”

In a statement, the HSE said there is “no embargo on staffing” within the NAS and that the service will continue to “expand” its frontline workforce in 2026.

It said graduates will be “eligible to apply for permanent vacancies and new development posts in areas prioritised for expansion, based on service activity and operational need”.

The HSE said trade unions were advised on 6 February of “challenges in progressing Year 3 Paramedics to permanent posts under the current processes” and that amendments are required to ensure vacant, funded positions can be filled in a timelier manner.

Temporary contract extensions have been put in place during the recruitment process, it said.

However, the HSE did not directly address claims that permanent contracts had previously been standard practice for graduates completing the programme.

A fleet of National Ambulance Service vehicles.

Paramedics to ballot

Graduates who spoke to The Journal said they entered the NAS programme with the understanding that successful completion of the three-year Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Paramedic Studies would result in permanent employment.

This, they said, had been common practice for previous cohorts before changing “almost overnight” last month.

One paramedic, who asked to remain anonymous, described the move as “heartbreaking”.

“We’ve completed three years of exams, placements and full-time frontline work. We’re already responding to cardiac arrests, strokes, trauma and emergency childbirths,” they said.

“To finish and then be told you must reapply for the job you’re already doing – it feels like the goalposts have moved.

They added: “We’ve done everything asked of us, now we just want to know where we stand.”

SIPTU confirmed it is now balloting NAS members for industrial action – up to and including strike action – over the issue, alongside a series of other ongoing concerns raised by NAS staff.

NAS morale ‘at an all time low’

McCamley said the latest development has escalated tensions within the NAS.

“Management have gone against the existing agreements, not only by not offering 80 paramedics permanent contracts, but also offering them fixed-term contracts with different terms and conditions of employment to their colleagues,” he said.

“This is all unilateral action by management which will intensify and make a dispute much more likely.”

He added that morale within the NAS is “at an all-time low”.

“This is not assisting in trying to present any goodwill to our members,” he said.

SIPTU has now called on HSE and NAS management to reverse the decision and restore what it describes as established practice.

The dispute comes as ambulance response times remain under scrutiny.

In October 2025, the Oireachtas Health Committee heard that some patients were waiting more than two hours for ambulances, with response targets not consistently being met.

Union representatives have warned that workforce instability risks compounding pressures within the emergency service.