Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

Yes and yes. Yes, the plan is to get the service back up and running on a 24-7 basis as quickly as possible. The exact timeline for that, to be blunt, depends on the individual conversations the Air Corps leadership is having with individual people in terms of air traffic control. Those conversations are under way and I am hoping for a readout with an update on that very shortly. There are provisions in place to ensure the continuance of the emergency air ambulance, which I think is based in Athlone, generally. I do not want to be pedantic because the service is not operating at full capacity in terms of hours, but it is operating from eight to eight as opposed to nine to five. Those are the current operational hours, with contingency arrangements in place outside of those hours as well.

Deputy Smith is correct. I will not get into the specifics around any individual commercial enterprise other than to say it is factually true to say there has been an increase in commercial activity in this area even since the 2021 report was carried out. We are operating in an environment where we have a global shortage of air traffic controllers and increased commercial competition for air traffic controllers. Those two factors were decisive in saying we need to go ahead with the service commitment scheme in the here and now to make sure that working in the Air Corps, as well as being a huge commitment to the security of our State and public service, is sustainable for people who have families, mortgages and lives like everybody else. We had an earlier question from Deputy Crowe on this. It raises a broader issue of those pinch points where there are specialist personnel who are significantly qualified, very happy to join the Air Corps and very proud to serve, but after a number of years other opportunities present themselves and, as per human nature, people will be attracted to them too. We will have to do a deep dive rather than play whack-a-mole such that it is this today and that tomorrow in terms of those pinch points around specialist personnel. I am considering bringing in external expertise to advise in that regard.

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