I want to raise the issue of the possibility of an air ambulance for the mid-west. There was some good news for the north west the other day, as it now has an air ambulance based out of Sligo. There is real need to have one in the mid-west. Recently I was part of a delegation of TDs from the region who met the National Ambulance Service. It costs it at around €4 million per annum to have an operational service. It is really needed. For many people in the western and northern extremities of County Clare there is no golden hour. They are simply too far away from University Hospital Limerick. I cannot hide my personal disappointment that the new hospital site for UHL was chosen in Raheen in Limerick and not in Clare. We very much need something that deals with the peripheral parts of our county. If the north west has it, given that the annual budget for healthcare in this country is €29 billion surely €4 million could be facilitated to run an operational air ambulance service in the mid-west, specifically out of Shannon Airport in County Clare.

I thank Deputy Crowe for raising this issue. I fully understand his desire for the location of an air ambulance service for the mid-west. I do not know what the response was from the National Ambulance Service but a lot of work has to go into such a proposal, in terms of researching it and making sure we have the human personnel, the expertise and the evaluation of how it is working across the country, with a lessons-learned approach. I will ask the Minister for Health and make some inquiries in terms of where we are in respect of this proposal.