Emergency 112 fails to ring a bell

Irish citizens had among the lowest awareness in Europe about the pan-European emergency number, a new survey has found.

Just 18 per cent of Irish citizens surveyed were able to identify the Europe wide 112 emergency number, a Eurobarometer survey released today showed. This compares the EU average of 26 per cent with only Greece, Italy, United Kingdom and Cyprus faring worse.

The Irish communications regulator (Comreg) unveiled a new website today (112.ie) to raise awareness and to coincide with European 112 day.

Almost three quarters of Irish respondents felt they were not adequately informed about the 112 number. Ireland was just behind the United Kingdom and Cyprus when it came to citizens feeling ill-informed. On average 58 per cent of EU respondents they were not adequately informed about the 112 number.

Ireland came close to the bottom of the table on being able to spontaneously identify 112 as the number to call police, fire brigade and ambulance service from anywhere in the EU.

The proportion of Irish people who thought of calling the 112 number in the event of an emergency in their own country increased from 13 per cent in 2009 to 19 per cent this year. However this compares badly to the EU average of 50 per cent

The European Commission urged member states to increase efforts to raise public awareness about the existence of the number.

"The European emergency number 112 saves lives, but only if people know about it. Member States must do more to ensure that everyone knows they can dial 112 in an emergency," Neelie Kroes, European Commission vice president for the digital agenda, said today.