- Opinion
- 16 Feb 18
A Bill is to be tabled in the Dáil next Tuesday ensuring all schools are fitted with potentially lifesaving defibrillators.
Fine Gael TD for Dublin North West, Noel Rock, is putting forward the legislation following a campaign by a daily newspaper seeking better coverage of defibrillators across the country.
A defibrillator is an an apparatus that's used to in a life-saving emergency to control heart fibrillation by application of an electric current to the chest wall or heart.
This is Deputy Rock’s fourth piece of legislation to be set before the Dáil. Deputy Rock said: "I am tabling this Bill in the Dáil next Tuesday, and am calling on TDs, Senators and Ministers from across the political divide to support this Bill for installing these life-saving devices in our schools.
This Bill builds upon the work of the 2013 Bill which called for defibrillators in all public places, which was sponsored by Senator Fergal Quinn and others.
"The Senators deserve huge credit for their earlier Bill, as do the Irish Sun who have been tirelessly championing this cause," Rock stated last nigh.
“What we have now is a more practical and feasible Bill to implement. If we can get something in place it would mean an awful lot to those few people who would have their lives changed thanks to a defib.
“I am determined to see these lifesaving devices made available across the country. They have the potential to have a very positive impact on the lives of very many people. For that reason we need these devices put in our schools.
“I have written to the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, and sent him a copy of this Bill. I would hope the Government would give it due consideration and implement it quickly. There is a small cost attached to this, but it would be a small price to pay for the life-saving implications it could have.”