Councillor Wants Defibrillator Placed In Tralee Town Centre

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A TRALEE councillor proposed that a defibrillator be placed in a public place in Tralee town centre, at the recent meeting of Tralee Municipal District of Kerry County Council.

Fianna Fail councillor, Norma Foley, said that as the capital of the county, the town needed a debrillator as if there was a cardiac incident in the town people would not know where to go to access the life-saving facility.

She said it has worked very successfully in other towns, especially in Killarney where it is placed in an old phone box.

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“It’s a hugely positive service and for the capital town of the county not to have one is unacceptable,” she said.

She asked that the Council liaise with the Community First Responder group in regards to funding.

Council said funding and maintenance of defibrillators is usually undertaken by Community First Responder groups. If one was to be provided a suitable location would have to be found and the local Community First Responder groups would have to provide funding.

Director of Services, Michael Scannell, said that if a defibrillator was acquired, one should be available in a place where there are people with the skills to use it and where it’s accessible 24 hours a day, so he suggested the Garda Station as a possible location.

Cllr Foley said in other towns it was on display in the town centre and said it should be visible to to the public so they know it’s there.

Cllr Sam Locke had reservations about that, as he said in the case of Killarney, the phone box was interfered with within 24 hours of it being installed, so the anti-social behaviour factor had to be considered.