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

It will be based in Co Cork, at the Rathcoole Aerodrome and will aim to provide emergency healthcare to people living in remote areas in the south of the country.

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.

The country’s first community air ambulance service is set to take off within weeks — but it won’t be a doctor-led service as had been hoped.