Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when the search and rescue contract is up for renewal; and the savings he intends to make on this. [54709/12]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The current Helicopter Search and Rescue Services contract, which came into operation on the 1st July 2012, will be up for renewal on the 30th June 2022 with a maximum extension date of the 30th June 2025 for all or any of the bases. The contract was signed in July 2010 and sets out the agreed rates applicable for the monthly standing charge, flight charges and ancillary charges. The monthly standing charge and the flight charges are subject to an annual adjustment which is linked to the Consumer Price Index provided by the Central Statistics Office.

As part of the improvements of the service the Coast Guard is piloting an Aero-Medical Assistance Service to the HSE. This is an emergency service for the essential rapid transfer of patients between hospitals; the recovery to hospital of patients classed as Life or Death and the recovery of patients in remote access locations and includes the following:

- Air Transport of patients from offshore islands to mainland hospitals

- Recovery of patients from remote access locations; where recovery by vehicle is not reasonable

- Recovery of patients deemed 'Life or Death scenario where the patient is not in a place of safety

- Transportation of ambulance teams to Offshore or Inland Waterways Emergencies

- Transportation of Medical Ambulance personnel, including NAS Incident Response Teams to Major Emergencies or incidents, where the specialist skills of the IRT personnel are required

- Air Transport of Neonates requiring immediate medical intervention in Ireland

- Inter-Hospital Transfer of patients with serious injury and illness between hospitals

- Air Transport of patients requiring emergency organ transplant in the UK.