James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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219. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 158 of 19 May 2016, to provide grants to community groups for the provision of defibrillators and automated external defibrillators; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12494/16]

Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Community groups may apply for lottery funding to help with the purchase of defibrillators; but one of the means to help improve health outcomes in this area is through the expansion of the National First Response Network. Community first responder groups comprise this national network. These are people from local communities who are trained in basic life support and the use of defibrillators that attend a potentially life threatening emergency in their area. They are then able to provide an early intervention in situations such as heart attack or cardiac arrest by providing, among other things, resuscitation and defibrillation.

Cardiac First Responders (CFR) Ireland, launched in 2015, is the national umbrella organisation for Community First Responders Groups. CFR Ireland is supported by the National Ambulance Service, Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council and the Centre for Emergency Medical Science UCD. There are currently 135 Community First Responder groups linked to the National Ambulance Service National Emergency Operations Centre. If an emergency 999/112 call for cardiac arrest, choking, chest pain or breathing difficulties is made to the National Ambulance Service in an area where a CFR group is established, the on-duty CFR member gets a text from the National Ambulance Service at the same time that an ambulance is despatched with location and call details. The First Responder then goes straight to the scene and administers initial care (defibrillation if required) until the National Ambulance Service Emergency resources arrive.