Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will follow up on Senator Noone's comments on defibrillators, and she has described a perfect example of what can take place. We have passed First and Second Stages of the appropriate legislation in this House and I ask the Leader to urge the Minister to see if there is any reason we cannot move on with that Bill. There are many other issues that have been mentioned by Senators Keane and Noone, and defibrillators in other parts of the world - particularly in France - are placed outside every town hall and building. The difficulty here is that although we have defibrillators and even if the Bill goes ahead, many office buildings close for the weekend. If somebody needs a defibrillator on a Saturday, Sunday or a bank holiday Monday, there may be a case where a defibrillator is in a building but cannot be obtained. Using phone boxes is a perfect example of what could be done, and if we use our imagination, we can find other innovations as well. We can save lives and it would be a shame to lose that opportunity. I urge the Leader to encourage the Minister to accept the Bill that has been moved, and we could see improvements on Committee Stage. The suggestion of using old telephone boxes is just one that could come out at that time.