Ireland’s first charity-funded air ambulance has finally gone live as a dedicated asset of the National Ambulance Service (NAS).

A charity has deployed its latest rapid response medical jeep to help save lives in North Kerry and West Limerick.

Ireland’s first charity-funded air ambulance has been sitting in a hangar for months waiting for ministerial approval to launch.

The gleaming helicopter is sitting in the hangar. It can be airborne within two and a half minutes. Paramedics have undergone training to work with the pilot during flight operations but the crew helmets are still wrapped in plastic on a shelf in the control room of the new €400,000 airbase.