The HSE now says it took 17 minutes for an ambulance to arrive at the scene of a fatal road incident in Drogheda yesterday evening.

It has revised an earlier figure of 45 minutes and says the confusion was due to a delay in pressing the on scene arrival button in the vehicle.

A woman in her 70s died after she was hit by a car on Scarlet Street in the town.

The HSE confirmed it received an emergency call at 5.22pm and an ambulance was dispatched a minute later.

However since the Drogheda-based ambulances were out on calls, another vehicle had to be sent from Ardee.

That took 17 minutes to get to the scene of the accident. The patient arrived at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital at 6.05pm.

The HSE said the ambulance service was not static and the nearest available vehicle was dispatched.