Donegal Cancer Flights & Services thank GAA fans for 'invaluable' support

Donegal Cancer Flights & Services have expressed their gratitude to GAA supporters as they gained a further 1,500 signatures on their petition to save the midday Donegal-Dublin flight.

It brings the total number of people who have signed the petition to 18,000, and a meeting between the group and Darragh O'Brien TD, Minister for Transport, is expected next week.

The Department earlier this month executed a new contract with Emerald Airlines for the Donegal-Dublin PSO (Public Services Obligation) air service. 

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However, the new terms have sparked significant backlash, with the traditional midday service being removed. Instead, the schedule will shift to an early 6:30am flight from Dublin and an 8:30pm return from Donegal.

Donegal took on Mayo in Division 1 of the National Football League on Sunday in Letterkenny, with the home side winning out on a 1-19 to 0-14 scoreline.

The Donegal Cancer Flights & Services charity, who say over 500 patients avail of the flights from Carrickfinn, and local leaders have protested the changes, stating that the midday flight is a "medical lifeline" for patients travelling for treatment who cannot manage the early/late timings. 

The petition was created by Mary Coyle, who manages Donegal Cancer Flights and Services, who said in the last week alone, three more patients have availed of the service. 

Ms Coyle, Parish Priest of Gaoth Dobhair Fr Brian O’Fearraigh, Maureen McElaney, Mary McFadden, Declan Ferry and Cáitlín Griffin were joined by Donegal TDs Pat the Cope Gallagher TD, Pearse Doherty TD, l Charles Ward TD, Pádraig MacLochlainn TD, and Charlie McConalogue TD, who talked with Ken Spratt, Secretary General at the Department of Transport, and colleagues Ethna Brogan, Assistant Secretary, Aviation and Emergency Planning; Conor Gallagher, Special Adviser in the Department of Transport and Nicola Hayes, Principal Officer, Airports Division.

“We want to meet the Minister and hope there is progress from last week and discussions with the airline,” MsCoyle added. “We only learned the contract had been signed because of an accidental leak and we cannot understand why there is not a professional channel of communications - it’s unbelievable this happened this way. In the last week alone we have had three new patients and that shows the service is growing at an alarming rate.” 

Deputy Doherty, speaking at O’Donnell Park, added: “Sometimes your words don't describe really the anger and the hurt that the people of Donegal have faced as a result of this. We're seeing an outpouring of support to retain the service that we have, a life-saving service for so many cancer patients.

“I was talking to some people when I came home from Dublin during the week. I was part of that delegation, that meeting that went up, and I must say those that travelled and particularly the cancer patients who spoke and made it very clear that some of them may not have been here today if it wasn't for that service, and trying to convince the powers that be that this decision has to be reversed from our part of it. We are absolutely determined to stand shoulder to shoulder with the campaign group.

“The meeting that's coming up with the Minister is going to be crucial, but we will be making it very clear that this is not over by a long shot. Obviously, the clock is ticking, the schedule will remain the same until the end of March, but come the end of March, then we lose the midday flight, so it's really, really important that there are mechanisms within the contract where things can be changed.

“We need to convince the government that what they did was wrong, and that this isn't something that will just go away, because sometimes the government thinks that we'll hear a lot of noise and it'll die down. This isn't one of those cases, you know, this is a very, very strong and emotive issue for the people of Donegal.

“I've seen so many people talk about the forgotten county, and it's very hard to argue against that when the Minister, on behalf of the government, signed a contract in the face of an avalanche of support for him not to do that, to retain the flights as is. 

“And the hurtful thing in all of this here is that the government knew since last October that these flights were going to be cancelled, and neither the campaign group, the charity that organises the flights up and down to Dublin, the Donegal airport, or none of the politicians were alerted of this fact until we found out by chance just a couple of weeks ago.

“The original sin here is in relation to the tender documents. And while the government will say that the tender documents were the same as previous years, for 20 years, those documents gave us a midday flight.

“When the government knew in October that the mid-day flight was going to be cancelled, they should have amended, as they're entitled to do, the tender documents to ensure that a midday flight was also part of it. So we are in a difficult position now, there's no doubt about it. It's a hundred times harder to resolve this, given that the government signed this contract, but that doesn't mean to say that there's not a way to solve this. And I think if there's a bit of common sense between the airline and the government, then I think we can find a way.”