How long should it take for a ambulance to reach you in an emergency?

Health Information and Quality Authority guidelines suggest that ambulances should arrive at life-threatening emergencies in under 19 minutes in 80% of cases.

But new figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that ambulances took at least one hour to respond to life-threatening emergencies on 123 occasions so far this year, and on one occasion in Mayo, it took nearly four hours.

Brendan Flynn, NASRA Union Representative for the East, and David Hall, owner of Lifeline Ambulance Service, joined us to discuss the situation.

Listen to the interview in full by pressing the play button on this page.