Jimmy Devins (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I add my congratulations to the Minister on his well deserved promotion.

I would like to focus on the role of the Air Corps in the air ambulance. From January 2003 to September 2004 some 116 missions were carried out to the north west by the air ambulance. These missions assisted a range from non-spinal to spinal and neonatal injuries. The air ambulance has been transferred to Baldonnel. Will the Minister consider basing it in the north west so that the flight time between Sligo and Letterkenny General Hospitals and Dublin will be halved? Six highly trained members of the Air Corps reside in the north west but they must be transferred to Baldonnel. Is this decentralisation in reverse?

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