Ade,
It's possible that it may have been in use during WW2. Ireland was neutral at the time and over here this period was referred to as "The Emergency". Bombs did fall here the very odd occasion (there were several theories here as to why, pilots thinking Dublin was Liverpool and on one occasion even the attempt to hit a Dublin Fire Station in retaliation for fire tenders from the south going up north to help in the Belfast raids) Fact or fiction, who knows? Maybe ambulance crews here were issued with them as "PPE"
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