Seven Renault Kadjar crossovers

Renault Ireland has donated seven Renault Kadjar crossovers to the Irish Community Rapid Response (ICRR) vehicle fleet, with a recent handover at University College Dublin (UCD) School of Medicine.

ICRR is a registered charity, which was founded by social entrepreneur Mr John Kearney in 2008 to deliver professional pre-hospital emergency care directly to the site of emergencies throughout Ireland.

Renault Ireland is a supporter of the ICRR as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme. The company said the donation will greatly impact ICRR’s volunteer doctors on the road in providing professional pre-hospital emergency care to those in life-threatening emergencies.

The donation of the vehicles, valued at €250,000, will double the total number of rapid response vehicles (RRVs) operating throughout Ireland. Six of the new vehicles are equipped with 4×4 capabilities and all are complete with built-in satellite navigation systems to meet the needs of ICRR service providers.

These new vehicles will operate in Clare, Dublin, Kilkenny/Waterford, Laois/Offaly, Mayo and Roscommon.

The ICRR RRVs are declared National Ambulance Service (NAS) assets and are tasked to life-threatening emergencies via the 999/112 system. ICRR also supports almost 200 other doctors responding to emergencies in their communities at local level. Overall, ICRR volunteer doctors responded to almost 1,000 calls in 2017.

Mr Patrick Magee, Country Operations Manager, Renault Ireland, said: “We are delighted to be in a position to assist this fantastic service which has saved so many lives around the country since 2008. It’s an amazing operation and we know that by providing our seven Renault Kadjars, ICRR’s reach will be expanded to so many more parts of the country. We wish all the ICRR staff who drive the new Renault Kadjars safe journeys on their missions.”

Mr Kearney, CEO of ICRR, commented: “This is a big milestone in our journey at ICRR. I want to acknowledge Patrick Magee and his extended team at Renault Ireland for their help in assisting the expansion of this successful life-saving service.”

The preventable loss of a child’s life in west Cork in 2006 was the catalyst that led to the formation of ICRR and following on from the first RRV in west Cork, the deployment of RRVs in both rural and urban locations throughout the country has made a significant impact for many people and their families across Ireland. Since 2008, ICRR has been developing a growing network of volunteer medical professionals throughout Ireland. The volunteer doctors can be called on to deliver critical pre-hospital advanced medical interventions within ‘the golden hour’; the time period during which there is the highest likelihood that prompt medical treatment will prevent serious injury or death.

When a person calls 999/112 for a serious life-threatening emergency, alongside the NAS ambulance, when available, an RRV in the area is tasked to assist the team of paramedics.