In fairness to 999 / 112 in Ireland I have had to use them in genuine emergencies twice and they answered immediately
Same here. Some years ago it used to be a standing joke about dialing 192 (directory enquiries) and falling asleep while waiting for an answer, but the few times I've had to call 999 the answer has always been almost instantaneous.
These days there are special emergency service centers, but in the "old" system up to the 1980s dialing 999 in most places routed the call to the same operator positions as if you dialed 100 for a regular operator.
On the old switchboards, regular 100 calls came in with a white call indicator lamp while 999 came in on circuits which flashed a red light. Emergency calls also flashed a large red light (standard lamp, 100W) atop the boards and sounded a klaxon until answered.
