Insurance company Aviva adds a loading of 20% to the motor insurance premiums of volunteers in the Community First Responder scheme.
Community first-responders are locally based volunteers dispatched by the National Ambulance Service to emergencies. They tend to a very narrow range of emergencies, such as heart attacks and strokes.
A spokesman for Aviva said an extra sum was built into premiums for first responders because of the nature of their work.
Aviva said it charged higher premiums to first responders so to cover the risk of their work, which is over and above the risk associated with the regular domestic/social use of a car.
A spokesperson added: "It is the same loading we apply to, for example, a service technician, a doctor, a company director anyone whose work involves the use of their car."
Aviva said that it had met with the CFR scheme operators and recommended an advanced training course, either independently of or with the insurance provider, which would reduce the cost.
However Dunlavin-based John Fitzgerald, co-chair of Community First Responders, said: "We have to drive by the rules of the road, we have no privileges on the road whatsoever."
Advanced driver training courses range in cost from €700 to €800, with some costing even more.
Mr Fitzgerald explained that community first responders, who must be Garda-vetted, were obliged to inform their motor insurance providers of their role.
Many of his colleagues are based in rural areas and rely on their cars to reach emergencies.
He added: "I'm a responder in Dunlavin and we have 16 people on our roster. Our call rate for the year is somewhere between 16 and 22. So the average call per responder is only about one and a half per year."
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