Almost a third of emergency ambulances failed to meet life-or-death response targets last year, according to new figures.
Paramedics are meant to reach patients suffering cardiac arrest within 18 minutes and 59 seconds in 75% of cases.
However, the Irish Independent reports the National Ambulance Service achieved this in just 71% of call-outs.
Targets for other critical emergencies were also missed, with average response times ranging from 22 to 26 minutes across regions.
The service has warned that some patients can wait more than 2 hours for an ambulance to arrive.
