Former mayor of Kilkenny calls for greater defibrillator awareness

Local Fianna Fáil councillor and former mayor of Kilkenny City, Cllr Joe Malone has touted the idea of designing a website or app which would identify the nearest defibrillator location in the event of a medical emergency in Kilkenny City or county.

Currently, there is no website that pinpoints the precise location of defibrillators in County Kilkenny with growing calls to have them more widely accessible and known.

"In light of a couple of incidents lately with young and old people passing away suddenly I think we need to address this," Cllr Malone told the Kilkenny People.

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"If I fell down on John Street where do you look? Where do people get the nearest defibrillator?,” he questioned, adding, there needs to be more information.

Cllr Malone claimed an app would save crucial time in any future similar emergency situation where the online platform could identify the exact location/premises where a defibrillator is being stored.

There are an estimated 10,000 defibrillators (AEDs) in Ireland presently though many are not registered with the National AED Network.

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