Angela McCormick

An ambulance from Dublin took 30 minutes to reach the scene of a fatal road accident at Gormanston, Co Meath, although an ambulance crew was available only eight minutes away in Drogheda.

Now a local councillor is demanding an investigation into the emergency service's response to the collision which claimed the life of hospital laboratory scientist Denise Goode (36) earlier this month.

The accident happened during morning rush hour on
1 September. Goode was travelling northwards on the M1 when her car hit the grass verge, colliding with a pole at the Gormanston interchange.

"Drogheda hospital, which is eight minutes away, was not contacted. Instead, an ambulance was dispatched from the Dublin Fire Brigade base in Kilbarrack," said councillor Paul Bell.

The HSE Northeast has confirmed that while Drogheda had two ambulance crews available when the accident happened at 8.50am on 1 September, the emergency call was not directed to them and they were not asked if they had resources closer to the incident.

The HSE say the emergency call was passed to the Dublin fire service by the Eircom operator.

The HSE East Coast Area were asked to provide a medical team when the fire service ambulance arrived on the scene, but this was later cancelled.