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The decision comes after a BBC investigation. It revealed the charity spent more than 90 per cent of the money raised in its first year on wages and administration. With the latest development on his exclusive story, our Business Correspondent Kevin Magee reports.

The charity has issued the following statement:

Statement Issued on behalf of the Ireland Air Ambulance

16 June 2009

Dr Gwyn Beattie, Clinical Director at Ireland Air Ambulance (IAA) said:

"IAA has always been completely transparent about all aspects of its operations and publishes its audited financial results on its website. 

"As the only region in the UK without Air Ambulance cover we continue to find great support for our plans to provide a service for the region.

"Like any charity or organisation, we anticipated that start-up costs in the first trading years would be high.

"In our first year, 90% of income was spent on operational costs such as salaries, premises, travel expenses, professional fees. In the last three months this figure has been reduced to 68% and we expect it to fall much further still in coming years.

"IAA receives no other funding outside public donations and collects a large proportion of its funds from some 13,000 collection boxes dispersed throughout the region. The regular collection, counting and banking of these boxes requires considerable manpower.

"I would like to thank all our fundraisers, volunteers and other stakeholders for their work to date and assure them that the vision of the IAA will soon become a reality.

"We envisage signing a lease deal with a helicopter firm in the coming weeks and will continue our negotiations with the NI Ambulance Service and health officials to ensure the integration of the IAA with emergency planning procedures. 

"As a surgeon, working and living in Northern Ireland I am confident that our continuing fundraising and support from the community will see the air ambulance soon begin operating in the region."