Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and wish to pay tribute to her publicly for the great work she is doing in her portfolio. I knew when she was appointed that she would grasp it by the scruff of the neck and she is doing so. I commend her on her good work and wish her good health to keep it all going.

I wish to pay tribute to the many communities throughout the length and breadth of the country who have been fundraising for defibrillators, that is, automated external defibrillators, AEDs, and installing them in many community facilities such as GAA and soccer grounds, as well as schools and business premises. Their availability mean that more people need to be trained. To all the volunteers who have given up their time to become first responders I pay tribute. They are a credit to themselves, their families and their communities for their responsibility to and solidarity with their communities. I was particularly impressed by an initiative undertaken in the Buncrana Garda district recently where the National Ambulance Service provided cardiac first response training to members of that Garda district. All of the members took it up. As a result the National Ambulance Service installed a defibrillator in every single Garda vehicle, including a motorcycle, in that district. It is an initiative that I would like to see rolled out throughout the country. It makes perfect sense that those who are first tasked as emergency responders, that is, members of An Garda Síochána, who respond in emergency situations would have the equipment in their vehicles to be able to assist those in a cardiac arrest situation but also that they would have had adequate training to be able to use that device. It is a simple situation that could be life or death. Members of the Garda are on the ground 24-7 and in fairness to them, they respond as quickly as they possibly can. It is an excellent initiative that I would like to see rolled out. I believe that training in basic first aid and cardiac first response is something that should be universal and that we should begin it in schools. I introduced a Bill in the last Seanad on first aid and mental health first aid in order that individuals could be trained from the get-go and we would not have to do it retrospectively.

I not only commend members of the Garda in the Buncrana district but also the National Ambulance Service personnel in Donegal for taking this initiative. They have set an example which could and should be followed up by every Garda district in the country. I hope that the Minister of State will use her good offices and consult with the Minister for Health to see how, in conjunction with the Department of Justice, we could roll out this initiative.It is a simple initiative but one that could prove a matter of life and death to some poor unfortunate individual.