Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I spoke to the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, on Saturday as the news emerged of the liquidation of Stobart Air. I pleaded with him to drop the idea of going for the tender process and to embark instead upon the emergency procurement process. I am glad to say that has been announced this morning, and it could mean we can have these services up and running within what the Department estimates will be several weeks, by early next month. I welcome that our concerns, which we put in writing, have been taken on board and that this approach has been adopted.

However, I implore the Minister of State to recognise the importance of every day which passes. As Deputy Pringle said, this service is of great importance and especially for cancer patients. I spoke to Mary Coyle of Ionad Naomh Pádraig who operates that community service. Every cancer patient leaving west Donegal who cannot take a flight faces a nine-hour round trip. Some of those people simply cannot make the journey by car. They are not doing it and appointments are being cancelled. Therefore, it is very important the Department fast-tracks this process. The middle of July is too late. I want to see this service back up and running in a few weeks and I implore the Department to bring this about.

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