There are about 4,000 of them and they’re discretely saving Irish lives. They are volunteers with the National Network of Community First Responders, known simply as “first responders,” and they deliver citizen CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) as you wait for an ambulance.

The setting up of a life-saving community first responder (CFR) group on the outskirts of Cork City could become a template for the roll-out of similar groups across the country.