Scrap the VAT on live saving AEDs

The Irish Heart Foundation is calling on the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe to remove VAT on AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators) with a petition which we encourage everyone to sign.

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 with an AED are not performed immediately your chance of survival decreases by 10 per cent every minute.

By removing the VAT on AEDs, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe can save lives.

Right now, AEDs and replacement pads and batteries are subject to VAT at 23 per cent in Ireland. 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.

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”.

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.

Real change happens when we come together and stand up for what we believe in. Together we can reach lots of people and help create change around this critical issue.

After you have signed the petition, could you also please take a moment to share it with others? It’s really easy – all you need to do is post the petition link above to your social media tagging @irishheart_ie #scrapaedtax

Thank you.