Cairdeas Award

Winner of the 2025 Mid West Region Cairdeas Award - CRITICAL - Emergency Medical Response

One of Ireland’s leading Emergency Medical Response charities, CRITICAL provides community based rapid first response and highly specalised medical interventions, saving lives within communities across the country.

CRITICAL - Emergency Medical Response was established in 2009 as Irish Community Rapid Response and in 2019 it successfully launched Ireland’s first and only charity Air Ambulance. Over a 36 month period it was tasked to more than 1,500 serious incidents and emergencies including Cardiac Arrests, Road Traffic Accidents, Farm Accidents and other serious medical emergencies and traumas.

Their team of Emergency Medical Responders have responded to over 1,800 calls in the past three years, an average of 600 responses annually. In 2023 they began to trade as CRITICAL, and they are now focused on expanding their network of Volunteer Emergency Medical Responders and CRITICAL Community First Responders across Ireland.

Find out more here

CRITICAL Charity CEO,

David Tighe