Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

I understand the Minister will visit Custume Barracks in Athlone on Monday next, to make an announcement regarding an air ambulance service. He will be very welcome in Athlone. We have been campaigning for 13 years for a helicopter emergency service and we hope the Minister's announcement will be the first stage in seeing it happen.

There is much concern in Custume Barracks about the proposed two brigade structure. When the proposal was previously mooted the Defence Forces were anxious that a brigade would be based in the Dublin metropolitan area. At the time, an analysis was completed by PricewaterhouseCoopers recommending that there be a taskforce for the Dublin area and that one of the two brigades would cover the northern half of the country and one would cover the southern half.

What is the status of the PricewaterhouseCoopers report? It did recommend the structures the Minister is now considering. Will he take the recommendations of the report into consideration before he makes a final decision on this matter?

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