Ireland's first community air ambulance to be airborne within weeks

IRISH Community Rapid Response (ICRR) have welcomed the announcement  by the Dept of Health today that a service contract has been signed, meaning that Ireland’s first community Air ambulance will be airborne within weeks.
Welcoming the announcement, ICRR said it looked forward to working in strong co-operation with the Dept of Health and HSE National Ambulance Service (NAS) to deliver a world-class service which will save lives.
ICRR director and Baltimore native John Kearney has now urged the Department to follow the signing of the Service Level Agreement with a definite commencement date.
‘I warmly welcome that this project finally has approval to get airborne. The sooner this vital service is live, the sooner a life will be saved and grief will be spared,’ said John.
‘The Department has said that it will commence ‘within weeks.’ ICRR urges that  a definite start date now be announced. For its part, ICRR is fully ready to commence.’
He thanked the public, who have generously supported the project, and called for continued support to maintain it long into the future.
‘ICRR is a charity and in the contract we have committed to fundraising €2m annually to pay for the helicopter, the pilots, the airbase at Rathcoole in Millstreet and the fuel. That is why this is a ‘community’ Air Ambulance.’