Air ambulance cuts to stay up

The ICRR air ambulance has been reduced to flying five days a week to ensure its survival for the next six weeks.
Last week – with less than €35,000 in the bank – the registered charity, the Irish Community Rapid Response (ICRR), feared that the life-saving service would be grounded.
However, an anonymous donation of €5,000, a €12,000 donation at Thurles racecourse last week, and many more generous donations have swelled its coffers to more than €62,000 – a figure that is still far short of its €400,000 target. David Mullins – who won the Aintree Grand National in 2016 with Rule the World – made the presentation in Thurles, after a serious fall at the racecourse last October necessitated him being air-lifted for urgent medical treatment.
Ruth Bruton, ICRR’s operations manager, confirmed that the reduced service is, at best, ‘a temporary fix’ and that the financial viability of the service will have to be reviewed again.
‘The current situation is not ideal,’ she said, ‘but it ensures six more weeks of service, and six more weeks to garner support.’

Subscribe to the Southern Star's YouTube channel, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all the latest news and sport from West Cork.