Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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226. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps he will take to ensure that funding is put in place to enable each primary and secondary school throughout the State to acquire a defibrillator; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7411/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The position is that under the provisions of the Education Act 1998, the Board of Management is the body charged with the direct governance of a school.

The decision to install a defibrillator is made at local school level and is a matter for the Board of Management of each individual school. 

I understand that a National Steering Group on Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest was established in 2017 and is representative of health professionals, patient groups, healthcare providers and other sectors.  It aims to strengthen the chain of survival for cardiac arrest.  The report from the group, due in 2018, will provide advice to the HSE and the Department of Health on the most effective ways of improving survival for cardiac arrest including training for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, building on the Community First Responder Programme and making public access defibrillators more easily accessible in community settings and in schools.