A Co Wicklow doctor has made a formal complaint to gardaí that his house was damaged after he declined to attend a local publican who had been shot during an armed robbery.
Dr Damien Doyle of Carnew complained to gardaí that a window in his home was broken during attempts to seek medical assistance for injured publican Mr Michael Kenny (45), the owner of The Corner House pub.
Mr Kenny was shot in the thigh when masked men burst into his pub as staff were cleaning up in the early hours of Sunday, August 29th last.
Staff and family members became concerned for the publican given the distance of the small Co Wicklow village from the nearest ambulance stations at Arklow, Wexford and Baltinglass, which are roughly a 30-minute drive away.
Dr Doyle was at home but was not on call at the time of the shooting. Calls for out-of-hours medical assistance in south Wicklow are routed to an on-call service known as Caredoc.
A Garda Press Office spokeswoman said a garda from Gorey, who had been called to the shooting, drove a local man to Dr Doyle's home but remained in the Garda car while the man sought the doctor.
On hearing an altercation coming from the side of the house, the garda investigated and found a window in the house had been broken.
The press office confirmed that Dr Doyle had declined to attend Mr Kenny at the scene of the shooting, referring all requests for assistance to the Caredoc service.
Ms Ann Molloy, the manager of the pub, who was on duty on the night of the shooting said the publican was ultimately attended by a doctor from the Caredoc service, "about 20 minutes" before the ambulance crew arrived.
She estimated the ambulance arrived about 50 minutes after the first call. "The local doctor did not come and we are pretty annoyed about it," she said.
Asked to comment on the incident yesterday, Dr Doyle told The Irish Times "I would prefer not to talk to you on that subject".
Asked if he had made a formal complaint to the gardaí, Dr Doyle replied: "It is in the hands of the gardaí". The Garda press office confirmed a complaint had been received.
A spokesman for the East Coast Area Health Board said the ambulance service had been particularly busy in Arklow on the Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday morning.
When the call came through a crew was already attending a coronary incident in Carnew alongside a doctor from Caredoc. Other ambulance crews were busy with a traffic accident in Tinahely.
The health board sought assistance from Wexford, from where an ambulance was dispatched. However this was recalled as the crew attending the coronary incident became available. The health board spokesman estimated the time of arrival of the ambulance crew at 40 to 45 minutes after the service had received the first call.
He added that Caredoc was a co-operative service put together by doctors in the area and was seen as a successful and an efficient way of handling rural call-outs.
The local Fianna Fáil councillor for the area, Mr Pat Doran, has called for a full report on the incident from the health board and the gardaí.
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