Jury urges CPR refresher courses for gardaí

Gardaí should get regular refresher courses in CPR, a jury recommended after an inquest yesterday into the death of a man who collapsed in a Garda station cell.

Cork City Coroner’s Court heard that James Walsh, 44, who lived at Mill Rd, Midleton, Co Cork, got no CPR for seven minutes after his collapse in a cell in the town’s Garda station because of the six gardaí who dealt with him that morning, only one was proficient in the technique.

One garda told coroner Dr Myra Cullinane he had received basic CPR training in 1990 but had received no refresher training since.