Medical Emergency Response (Medical Emergency Response )

Lobbying Organisation Medical Emergency Response

Date published 02 Apr, 2026

Relevant Matter Public policy or programme

Public Policy Area Education and Training

Period 1 Jan. 2026 to 30 Apr. 2026

Specific Details Medical Emergency Response Ireland (MER) held a virtual meeting with Minister Moynihan to introduce the organisation and its objectives, and to discuss findings from a report on emergency preparedness in schools, including access to emergency medicines, training, and considerations relating to improving safety in schools and public settings.

Intended results To inform the Minister of MER’s work and findings relating to emergency preparedness in schools and public settings, and to contribute to consideration of measures to improve access to emergency medicines and training.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Rory O'Connor

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) Yes

Current or Former Designated Public Official(s)

Rory O'Connor (Former DPO) Councillor (Wicklow County Council)

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Virtual Meeting (1)

We discussed our report, which had the following findings: Approximately 70% of schools are not certified in training to use auto-injectors. Only seven schools are currently registered through the HPRA for auto-injector training. Most schools hold prescribed emergency medicines only for specific students. 88% of schools do not have a spare emergency medicine for undiagnosed pupils.

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Michael Moynihan Minister of State (Department of Education)