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To: Paschal Donohoe, Minister for Finance

Scrap VAT on AEDs – it’s a tax on saving lives (GOAL ACHIEVED)

Our Goal was Achieved!

Our Goal was achived. More information: https://irishheart.ie/news/budget-decision-to-scrap-vat-on-defibrillators-welcomed/

We in the Irish Heart Foundation are calling on the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe to remove VAT on AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators).

AEDs are lifesaving devices which deliver a shock and restore a person’s normal heart rhythm if they are having a cardiac arrest. If you go into cardiac arrest and CPR and defibrillation are not performed immediately, your chance of survival decreases by 10% every minute.

Currently in Ireland VAT is charged at a rate of 23% on AEDs. This unnecessary tax is costing lives. Sports clubs, community first response groups and other voluntary community organisations spend almost €300 extra in VAT every time they buy an AED for their local community and up to €100 more in VAT each time they replace the AED’s pads and batteries – which has to be done regularly.

By acting now and removing the VAT on AEDs, Minister Donohoe can save lives.

Why is this important?

We in the Irish Heart Foundation are calling on the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe to remove VAT on AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators).

An AED (Automated External Defibrillator) increases a person’s chances of surviving cardiac arrest. An AED is a portable, simple to use, computerised device. When someone suffers a cardiac arrest, an AED delivers a shock to the heart to allow it to resume its normal rhythm.

Right now, AEDs and replacement pads and batteries are subject to VAT at 23% in Ireland. Recent changes in EU legislation mean that the Government will have the power this year to abolish this VAT on AEDs, a tax which we in the Irish Heart Foundation have condemned for years as “a tax on saving lives”.

Every year, thousands of people in Ireland die from cardiac arrest. 80% of these occur at home and in local communities. The more AEDs there are available in local communities and accessible to the public , the more lives can be saved.

Charging VAT on these devices, along with replacement pads and batteries, makes it harder for sports and community organisations to afford their purchase and upkeep.

The Irish Heart Foundation hopes that Minister Donohoe and the Department of Finance will act on this petition and undertake all work necessary to ensure an exemption of VAT on AEDs is introduced at the earliest date possible in 2022.

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Updates

2022-10-06 12:54:11 +0100

Petition is successful with 8,581 signatures

2022-05-07 08:29:31 +0100

5,000 signatures reached

2022-03-23 15:29:29 +0000

1,000 signatures reached

2022-03-22 22:09:03 +0000

500 signatures reached

2022-03-22 18:18:00 +0000

100 signatures reached

2022-03-22 17:20:56 +0000

50 signatures reached

2022-03-22 17:03:26 +0000

25 signatures reached

2022-03-22 16:28:41 +0000

10 signatures reached