Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this very important issue. Although I do not purport to speak on behalf of Deputy Doyle, I know he is aware of and supportive of this issue, as he has been over a number of years. I have not spoken on any issue that is more important than this in my time in the Dáil, and I have grave concerns about this project.

I acknowledge and recognise the excellent work done by Wicklow community first responders, a voluntary group set up almost ten years ago that went active in spring 2005. As recently as a week or two ago, the Greystones cardiac first responders were presented with a special recognition award at Greystones town council. It is a group that has worked hand in glove with the ambulance service, engendering a positive and progressive relationship over the past seven or eight years. Where the scheme is in operation, if somebody rings "999", an ambulance is dispatched and the person in the ambulance centre would also ring a local volunteer who would have a defibrillator, oxygen and other first aid equipment. That person would also be trained and tested to an acceptable standard to carry out work.

In County Wicklow we are very lucky to have approximately 500 individuals at 33 locations around the county who have been called out on 1,500 occasions in the past seven years. They have saved lives, and a newspaper article detailed how a young girl in Tinahely was saved in a doctor's surgery by the community first responders. The scheme is recommended by the Irish Heart Foundation and heart authorities in Britain. It has competed in many competitions around the country.

Over the past number of years the group would have been called out for problems in five categories, including chest pain, heart attack, cardiac and respiratory arrest, breathing difficulties, stroke and choking. The Pre-hospital Emergency Care Council, PHECC, in its wisdom, has in the past year changed the call-out criteria, which are now limited to chest pain and choking. There is grave concern among volunteers that if the proposals are implemented - it looks like they will be - the scheme will collapse. This will happen because it will not be utilised to the extent that it could be, as the lifeblood of the scheme is getting called out to assist in the community. In addition, volunteers have come under pressure in the past few weeks within the local communities; in one case where they were not called out in Blessington, there was a backlash.

This scheme costs the HSE nothing aside from the initial training. When Deputy Doyle was involved with the HSE, he was instrumental in getting funding for that training. The volunteers now self-train, with two or three groups in Wicklow waiting to join; approximately twice every year 50 new members are trained on a voluntary basis. It is one of the most positive and progressive groups of people that I have met in my time, and it is frustrating that the scheme is in danger. This is not about cutting back or lack of resources. I listened to a HSE official talk about smarter use of our resources but this resource will not continue unless the Minister takes direct action and we have a little common sense.

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