Call for defibrillators to be installed in all Cork city housing estates

Cork city councillors have called for defibrillators to be installed as part of all housing estates in the city, and will seek to have it added to planning regulations.

At a city council meeting this week, Labour’s Peter Horgan proposed the council adopt a policy — as part of the conditions for planning applications for new housing estates — that developers must install automated external defibrillators (AEDs), and that a review be undertaken to install AEDs in all existing residential developments across Cork city.

While Mr Horgan was told that there is no statutory mechanism to mandate the installation of such equipment in new estates, he received widespread support on the motion and said he would continue to pursue the matter.

Niall Ó Donnabháin, the council’s director of planning and integrated development, said that AEDs “are specialised medical apparatus intended to be used in emergency situations”.

“They are typically installed in housing estates [and other locations such as workplaces, sports clubs, etc] by local community groups, residents’ associations or developers, who are then responsible for the location, maintenance, and upkeep of AEDs,” he said. 

“There is no statutory provision or mechanism with the development management process to mandate the installation of specialised emergency medical apparatus such as AEDs in all-new housing developments.”

Despite this response, Mr Horgan’s motion received widespread support, with councillors speaking on the impact defibrillators have made in their communities.

Fianna Fáil councillor John Sheehan, a GP in Blackpool, said that the presence of defibrillators in communities had a huge impact on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates. Sinn Féin councillor Joe Lynch said it was important that it was clear who was responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of these, saying he feared the council could be held liable if a defibrillator was not maintained.

Mr Horgan told The Echo after the meeting that he will continue to pursue the matter: “I welcome the fact that, cross-party, there was genuine support for my motion, despite the answer in the report that nothing could be done.

“The motion sought for the provision of defibrillators to become a condition of planning, and notwithstanding the answer I received, I will pursue this now, cross-party, in other committees and as part of the development plan, including the variation of the Docklands, because we cannot seek to create a new city within a city and not adequately prepare for these live-saving equipment to be provided.

“It should not rest solely on voluntary and community groups, in my opinion.”