{"id":283447,"date":"2026-02-06T06:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T06:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/283447\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T06:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T06:27:08","slug":"donegal-dublin-flights-are-about-dignity-not-convenience-says-tanaiste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/283447\/","title":{"rendered":"Donegal-Dublin flights are about dignity not convenience, says T\u00e1naiste"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Donegal\u2013Dublin air service is about dignity rather than convenience, T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris has said, as political pressure grows to protect same day journeys for patients.<\/p>\n

The concerns of Donegal cancer patients were stressed to the government today amid fears that the afternoon flight to\/from West Donegal and Dublin could be cut under contract changes.<\/p>\n

With just weeks to go until the Public Service Obligation (PSO) contract is renewed from 26th February, Deputy Pearse Doherty raised the urgent issue in the D\u00e1il.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe know that the people of Donegal are rightly outraged at the new proposed contract. Flights from Donegal at 8.30 in the evening and coming back from Dublin at 6.30 in the morning is ludicrous.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody is demanding that. It won\u2019t work. You will have ghost flights. This is a \u20ac17m contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

A petition<\/a> calling for the flight schedule to remain as normal has gained almost 10,000 signatures this week. The campaign is spearheaded by the Donegal Cancer Flights and Services charity, which supports patients making essential journeys to appointments.<\/p>\n

Deputy Doherty pointed out that over 500 people who depend on this flight to get their treatment in Dublin, as it would be a 9-hour return journey by road.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many patients, I\u2019ve spoken to them myself, who, if it wasn\u2019t for this flight, would not be able to avail of their cancer treatment. They can\u2019t even book flights now for after the 26th of this month because there is no contract in place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Deputy Doherty called on government to commit to not enter into this contract until the midday service is secure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a government contract. It is a Public Service Obligation. It has to serve the public, not the airline,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In response,\u00a0T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris said that he understands the concerns and will get Minister for Transport Darragh O\u2019Brien to respond to Deputy Doherty directly.<\/p>\n

Mr Harris said he was acutely aware of the deep concern felt by patients who depend on this air service to access specialist medical care, including cancer treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m clear that the route isn\u2019t about convenience. It\u2019s about trying to manage your illness with dignity and reducing the physical and emotional strain of the long journeys,\u201d Mr Harris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve briefly engaged with the Minister for Transport on this issue. I know it\u2019s currently operated by a PSO contract funded by the exchequer, which provides 2 daily return services.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I know the Minister is continuing to monitor the operation and performance of the service in line with the terms of the existing PSO contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

See more: Donegal cancer patients fear loss of same day Dublin flight service<\/a><\/p>\n

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Donegal-Dublin flights are about dignity not convenience, says T\u00e1naiste was last modified: February 5th, 2026 by Rachel McLaughlin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Donegal\u2013Dublin air service is about dignity rather than convenience, T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris has said, as political pressure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-283447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}