New figures show it took an ambulance more than an hour to respond to a life-threatening emergency in Leitrim five times in the first seven months of this year.

There were also four calls in excess of 60 minutes in Roscommon and Longford, while the Roscommon region continues to have the worst record in Ireland.

According to guidelines from the Health Information and Quality Authority, an ambulance should arrive at the scene of life-threatening emergencies in less than 19 minutes in 80 per cent of cases.

Yet new figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, show this target isn’t being met in any of the Shannonside regions.

The response-time was reached in only 65 per cent of the 458 life-threatening emergencies in Roscommon, Galway and Mayo in July – the worst rate in Ireland.

It was met in only 71 per cent of the incidents in the northwest, which includes Leitrim, and 76 per cent in the midlands, including Longford.

Arguably of most concern is some calls in Leitrim, however, where on five times in the first seven months of 2017, it took an ambulance more than an hour to respond to a life-threatening emergency, including one call of nearly 1 hour, 19 minutes.

The response times to two life-threatening calls in Roscommon during the same time frame were more than 60 minutes, including one of nearly 1 hour, 14 minutes.

There were also two similar calls in Longford, including one of 66 minutes.