Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a situation which obtained prior to me coming into this office, prior to the time of Deputy Coveney and prior to the time of the previous Minister, Alan Shatter. It goes back to the days when Fianna Fáil was in power. A service-level agreement was put in place between the Department of Transport and the HSE. I stand to be corrected, but I am almost certain that it was a Fianna Fáil Government that put that service-level agreement in place. I am not prepared to enter a permanent agreement with any organisation unless we have the capacity to provide the service involved.

Deputy Chambers may have missed the point that the Air Corps provides an excellent air ambulance service from Athlone which was established by the Government immediately preceding this one in conjunction with the HSE and which is saving lives. I will continue to promote the message that the Air Corps is doing an outstanding job in that regard. Last week, we saw that the Air Corps was able to assist with the forest fires in Sligo and Galway. That is more assistance. We also assist An Garda Síochána in respect of its helicopter operations.

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