It's a controversial issue. There are two (competing?) Irish air ambulance charities at present. One has gotten a fair bit of flak by allegedly spending an amount of the cash raised on salaries, the other has less controversy surrounding it but there are still major issues around both, compounded by the fact that there are two regulatory authorities involved in the legalities of operating in either northern or southern airspace.
In the UK, air ambulances have become an established part of the emergency response services. A set of rules exists there that allows them to operate in the aviation sense, within a very tightly defined set of parameters. In northern ireland, from an aviation law perspective an air ambulance could probably operate within the rules that currently exist, given some work and will. In southern ireland, the regulatory authorities have been very slow to catch up with the rest of the world in terms of emergency response. For example. one major issue for years was that paramedics were not allowed to give drugs to patients at accidents, they had to wait for a doctor. Allowing private operators to operate air ambulances would be a major cutural shift for the authorities.
In the meantime, the state contracted SAR helicopters provide an basic air ambulance, in addition to the Air Corps. This is what the health service executive rely on at the minute.
I know that it doesn't get the same coverage as the UK reality shows demonstrate, but major incidents in the south do get air ambulance cover when required by the on scene doctor.
What's the answer? Well it's up to individuals to work out which AA service has spend almost 800,000 pounds sterling to date on salaries and work out whether that figure is value for money or not. I do know that for this type of (aviation) enterprise the initial paperwork and regulatory burden is huge, however that salary figure seems large (personal opinion). Again, your decision if you think it's worth your contribution. I guess the question at Kells is, which air ambulance are you, and how much have you spent on salaries to date?
http://www.aiaa.ie/
http://www.irelandairambulance.org/
