The Order of Malta is appealing for greater public suppport to update its specialist first aid services and expand its community care centres.
At the launch of its annual report earlier this week, the voluntary organisation said its finances were only sufficient to maintain existing services.
Now the Order is appealing to the public to donate funds for its programme of improvements which include fitting AEDs or portable heart machines to its outlets across the state as well as expanding and renovating its community care centres.
According to Ms Rosita McHugh, head of communications, part of the reason for the urgent need for extra funds is the cost of AEDs, which run to €2,500 each.
She said: "These machines are vital if we are to save lives as we can treat patients immediately rather than having them wait 20 minutes for a medics team. Ideally we would like to instal these machines in our ambulances but the expense is so great that at this stage we're just hoping to have one for each outlet."
She added: "We receive no core funding from the state so we have to raise the funds for this from the public."
Most of the Order's income is generated from its first aid services at pop concerts and sports events for which it receives a small fee.
In its annual report for 2003, the Order said it had raised €3m in income during the year and spent €2.8m of this sum on vital services.