Minister for Health Leo Varadkar was part of an emergency ‘first responder’ team that treated a man who collapsed at an event in Dublin on Saturday.

Mr Varadkar attended the incident on a night’s duty with the National Ambulance Service.

One of those present at the medical emergency said one of the two men who arrived as first responders ahead of the ambulance crew looked “familiar”.

“The two guys got out carrying all the gear. They were both down on their knees over the patient, putting on an oxygen mask and working on him. Then I realised one of them was the Minister for Health.”

Mr Varadkar told The Irish Times he had been out for the evening with the National Ambulance Service. He had visited Townsend Street control centre and the new centre in Tallaght, which is due to open in the new year. He had gone on a call-out en route.

He said he had “just wanted to see how it actually all works”.

People at the scene of the emergency praised the first responders and the ambulance team who arrived shortly afterwards.

The man treated was later discharged from hospital and said, through a friend, he was “very grateful to the Minister and all the emergency staff involved”.