Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish the company that won the tender, Air Alliance Medflight, well. We do not want to see any gap in service, but at some stage the Defence Forces must have a capability to deliver and be an aid for the civil power. This is a €7 million contract over two years. In a response to a parliamentary question in 2014, I was told that the costs of providing this service by the Air Corps would have been approximately €1.3 million. There is no logic to continuing to look to the private sector. We should look to invest in the Air Corps and increase its ability to deliver this service. When I visited Baldonnel, I spoke to members of the Air Corps who were eager to deliver and to help and be an aid to the civil power in the context of air ambulance transports. They would like to be able to extend the service they currently give during daytime. However, there seems to be no urgency to increase the capacity to deal with the issues where it seems impossible for the Air Corps to retain staff or attract the experts who will help deliver such as service into the future.

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