Healthcare activists are demanding that a firm commitment to the provision of a cross-Border "flying doctor" service be made by the Government before the general election is called.
Otherwise the issue will become a hot ballot-box issue, the Taoiseach was warned last night.
The demand came from Dr Jerry Cowley, chairman of the voluntary national Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) committee, which has been campaigning for eight years for the facility.
Protesting that Ireland was the only country in the EU without facility, Dr Cowley said: "The lack of an HEMS service is costing lives. It is inexcusable that there is such a delay in providing the service." Recently Dr Cowley submitted a 40-page dossier to Government listing the scores of lives that could be saved if HEMS became available.
He also met the Cross-Border Emergency Care Committee set up under the Belfast Agreement to impress on them the need for HEMS which would see the siting of helicopters at the airports at Dublin, Cork, Belfast and Knock, Co Mayo.
There was a breakthrough in the campaign with the recent invitation of tenders for the commissioning of a feasibility study and report on the pros and cons of the introduction of a dedicated service. The Government Purchasing Agency, on behalf of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Belfast, and the Department of Health and Children, Dublin, has invited tenders from interested partied to undertake the feasibility study.
Dr Cowley, a GP in Mulranny, Co Mayo, added: "I greatly welcome the study. The evidence is here for the need for the service.
"There are studies there to show that the time in intensive care can be cut down by a third by having the HEMS service available.
"There is no doubt in my mind or that of my colleagues that this is the way forward. I hope there is no delay in the process.
"I hope they go ahead post haste as time is of the essence. I am aware of several cases where lives could have been saved if a HEMS had been in operation. People would be alive today if this service was available to them.
"I want a resolution to this before the election is called. Otherwise they will have to bear the consequences." Dr Cowley added: "We have an excellent ground ambulance service which is doing a good job. However, to ensure a complete and effective and co-ordinated pre-hospital and inter-hospital transport system we need HEMS also.
"This is because there are situations occurring every day when speed is of the essence and when it is inappropriate to use anything except HEMS, both for inter-hospital transport and in certain pre-hospital cases.
"The result is that scores of mostly young Irish lives are being lost every year, and scores of mostly young people are being unnecessarily disabled for life because we don't have HEMS."