A NURSE WHO gave CPR to a bus driver who’d fallen unconscious while driving in Dublin city centre this week has said that she cried when she saw the driver safe and well in hospital two days later.

Aoife McGivney described the incident when speaking to Ryan Tubridy on last night’s Late Late Show on RTÉ One.

The Mater Hospital nurse had been on board the 16 bus when the driver fell unconscious and the vehicle went through a red light on Dublin’s O’Connell Street.

“We kept rolling through the red light, and we ended up going over a bicycle,” she said. “I jumped into action… I said we need to stop this bus.”

The bus had knocked a cyclist off his bicycle but he managed to jump out of the way before the bus drove over it. He suffered only minor injuries.

Passengers were able to get the driver’s foot off the accelerator, and McGivney sought help in removing him from the bus and lying him on the ground.

She said: “I started CPR. We did compressions, you know the usual, the AED, call 999.”

The nurse also described meeting the driver, Martin, since Monday’s incident.

“He’s great. I went into the hospital on Wednesday. I wanted to give him space,” she said. “I met him and well… I cried. I bawled… I’d seen him go through this trauma. It’s very different when you see someone and you’re trying to help them so much.

It was emotional for me to see him so well. It was amazing. He was telling me about his life and his plans. I was just so grateful we’d got to do that for him. 

McGivney then received a warm ovation from the audience on the show at the close of the interview.