Watch: Cancer survivor Majella pleads on Late Late to keep Donegal's vital flights

Majella O’Donnell laid out the case for maintaining the vital existing PSO (Public Service Obligation) flights from Carrickfinn to Dublin on Friday’s Late Late Show.

Assisted by Donegal Cancer Flights and Services, based at Naomh Pádraig in Gaoth Dobhair, over 500 cancer patients, most of whom require same-day return, will be affected if a proposed change to the flight schedule between the two airports is implemented later this month.

READ NEXT: Donegal Cancer Flights & Services will do all they can to maintain current flights

Majella told host Patrick Kielity that Donegal’s people are “pleading the government” to keep the existing three daily return flights.

Majella, the wife of singer Daniel O'Donnell, is a breast cancer survivor diagnosed in July 2013. She underwent a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and a double mastectomy, documenting her experience in her memoir, It's All In The Head. She famously shaved her head on a previous appearance on The Late Late Show to raise over €350,000 for the Irish Cancer Society.

She said: “We have a lovely county there up in Donegal. It's a little bit up and it's out of the way. We have a flight, a small airport up in Donegal, and it's a Public Service Obligation contract that is between the government and the airline to provide flights to Donegal because we have no trains, because we have no waterways, because it takes four hours, and that's driving fairly nifty, you know, five hours to get up home.

“And Donegal is the third largest county in Ireland. So from Mallinhead down to Donegal town, which is barely inside the border, it's a big, big county. At the moment, the flights are provided; they go up in the morning, they go down, they go up in the morning, they go up in the afternoon, and they come down, which is fine.”

The new, controversial draft contract proposes changes to flight times, including the potential loss of the afternoon flight and no early morning flight from Carrickfinn, causing concerns for patients travelling to and from Dublin.

Emerald Airlines (Aer Lingus Regional) operates the government-funded Public Service Obligation (PSO) flights between Donegal and Dublin. This contract was extended to run until February 25, with a new procurement process underway.

The plane currently stays overnight in Carrickfinn, with flights departing for Dublin at 7:55am and 2:30pm, with flights leaving from Dublin at 12:55pm and 6:50pm. However, the new schedule would see the plane rest in Dublin overnight and then make its way to the north-west.

Users of the flight say the long bus journeys are not feasible, they can be exhausting, distressing, and in many cases physically impossible. This flight allows people to travel with dignity, comfort, and a measure of ease during already incredibly difficult times.

“People who are having treatment in Dublin for cancer or they're going out for diagnosis, they can go down on the 8 o'clock flight in the morning, they can come back up at lunch time,” Majella added. “They have the hospitals always organised for them to have their treatment, chemo, whatever in the morning, so they get up in the afternoon flight. People who live on the islands, like Arranmore and such, have to come in off the island in the morning, so they get the afternoon flight.

“They can get down, they can have their treatment in the afternoon, and they can get back in the evening flight. So this PSO contract is up for renewal on the 25th of February, and they're proposing to cut out the lunchtime flight. So basically, people won't be able to get back.

“You go down in the morning at 8, you have your chemo, and you go to the airport, and you sit there until 7 o'clock at night to get the flight. The people from the islands will have to come in the night before. That means they have to pay for accommodation to stay overnight to try and get the flight down in the morning, and then they have to sit all day. When you feel crap after you've had chemo, or you've just been gone down for a diagnosis and they've told you, yes, I'm sorry, you have cancer. You've got to go and sit in the airport all day.

“We are pleading the government, do not let that second flight go. It is a lifeline that's on its own.”

A PSO flight is a government-subsidised air service, ensuring essential connectivity. These routes are not always commercially viable for airlines on their own but are vital for regional access, tourism, and medical travel.