(This article is produced by our Gaeltacht team. You can read an Irish version of this piece here)

ÚDARÁS NA GAELTACHTA has warned that planned changes to the ‘cancer flights’ from Donegal to Dublin would be a major step backwards for the Gaeltacht community. 

The route currently operates on most days of the week, with morning and evening departures from Donegal, and return flights at midday and at night from Dublin.

This schedule is covered by a Public Service Obligation (PSO) which is due to end on 25 February. The Department of Transport confirmed yesterday that a new schedule will begin on 29 March.

According to the department, a new evening service from Donegal Airport will replace the afternoon service under the new arrangement.

The first departure from Dublin will commence at an earlier time which will facilitate a return daily service for passengers travelling from Dublin.

In a statement this morning, Údarás said that the overnight positioning of the aircraft and removal of the midday flights would cause serious concern and do enormous damage to connectivity with the Donegal Gaeltacht. 

“This PSO flight service has been a vital service for the Donegal Gaeltacht community for many years and has been very successful to date,” it said. 

“It is a critical service in terms of healthcare, which is a central element of any community’s development, particularly when that healthcare is not available to our community within the county.”

The Department of Transport has also faced criticism from passengers who rely on the route to get treatment. 

Caroline Sweeney, living in Gaoth Daobhair, told The Journal that the flights from Donegal to Dublin have been a lifeline over the past three years while she has been receiving cancer treatment.

She was diagnosed four years ago with stage four cancer in the lymph nodes in her neck and head, but she was able to undergo surgery to remove the cancer. She has now been cancer-free for more than 18 months. 

She still travels frequently to Dublin for follow-up radiation therapy. 

“I was in a situation once where a flight was cancelled and I had to return by bus from Dublin. I got as far as Monaghan and my son had to come and collect me because I wasn’t able to complete the whole journey by bus,” she said.

There is currently no cancer treatment available in Donegal. Sweeney says she would be “lost were it not for organisations like the Irish Cancer Society and Donegal Cancer Flights.”

“There is no government assistance available for your flights or the travel you have to undertake,” she said.

“I used to go to Galway for care, but it was actually more expensive, as fuel cost €180 for the return journey. And that was from Dungloe, not even from Gweedore.”

She says the best thing about the flights from Donegal to Dublin is that they are much faster and more comfortable than driving or taking the bus.

“You want to have dignity after your treatment and you don’t want to cause discomfort to the people around you,” she said.

It is not only cancer patients who use these flights.

Frances Meehan, also from Gweedore in Donegal, frequently travels to Dublin to get medical care for her son, Declan.

Declan suffered a severe stroke when he was five years old. Ten years on, he is doing well, but he and his mother still have to attend hospital appointments in Dublin.

“We travel up and down often, sometimes once a month. These flights are extremely important because Declan needs occupational therapy and physiotherapy,” she said.

A car journey from Gweedore in Donegal to Dublin would take nearly five hours.

“There’s a huge difference between taking these flights and going by car. You’re exhausted if you travel by car and you can’t go up and back in the same day. He would also be in pain when we travelled by car,” Meehan said.

Meehan says that these flights are a more efficient and cost-effective way of attending appointments for Declan, as you don’t have to stay overnight in Dublin and pay for accommodation.

Declan can attend early morning hospital appointments and return on the midday flight under the current schedule, but if he were to have to wait for the night flight from now on, they would be left waiting around Dublin Airport, which is not suitable for him.

“We’ve been relying on these flights for ten years now and we’re only one story. I can think of many other people and children who depend on this service,” she said.

Máire Uí Chomhaill is the manager of Ionad Naomh Pádraig, which organises flights for patients who need medical care.

She told The Journal that the change to the route is an example of “fixing something that wasn’t broken,” and that “30 to 35 people use the midday flight every day.”

“People are travelling for diagnosis, treatment or hospital appointments. There are new patients every week seeking this service,” she said.

“There was no problem with the service as it was. The timetable was very good, and it will put more pressure on people now if the midday flight is stopped. There will be increased costs and greater demand on the morning and night flights,” she said.

“When the night flight arrives each day, it is certain to be ready to depart from Donegal the following morning. But now, with the changed schedule, people will have to wait every morning for the aircraft to arrive from Dublin,” she said.

“A PSO should be about the people who rely on it, but it seems that this decision is more about the airline than anything else.

“The new contract due to begin in March is under review and can still be changed. Why not do that now rather than after some time?”

The Journal’s Gaeltacht initiative is supported by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme