Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 November 2021
177. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if she is satisfied with the number of defibrillators located in sports clubs throughout Ireland; the status of the work of an organisation (details supplied) in its development of a State defibrillator database; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55219/21]
View answerThe procurement of defibrillators and subsequent training is a matter for each individual club in the first instance. However, the State provides a number of supports for their purchase and training for their use.
The Sports Capital and Equipment Programme is the primary vehicle for Government support for the development of sports and physical recreation facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment throughout the country. Grants are available for a wide variety of capital works and non-personal sports equipment including first aid kits and defibrillators.
Defibrillators situated at sports clubs are generally also for community use and funding is also available through the HSE’s National Lottery grants schemes and other Community grants schemes.
At a local level, the network of Local Sports Partnerships throughout the country delivers education and training opportunities across a broad range of areas to local sports clubs and community groups. This includes First Aid Workshops, which typically cover CPR and/or Defibrillator Training as part of the content.
Defibrillators can improve a person’s survival chances following sudden cardiac arrest and their availability can be an important part of the medical response. I would encourage all NGBs to support their clubs in their efforts to purchase defibrillators.
Sport Ireland has commenced work on the development of a National Database of Sport and Recreation Amenities. This GIS-based database encompasses considerably more datasets than was originally envisaged in an audit of sports facilities. As part of this work, Sport Ireland is examining a proposal to include the location of defibrillators in the database. This is a two year project with full implementation due in April 2023.
