Hedski, thankfully your correct, Dublin is not that congested, in fact, if you really had to fly at 500ft, it would probably be enough to get out alive.
Steve, in one sense your right, money is not really an object for Sky but neither would it be for their sister station FOX news in the USA which do utilise R44's.
While in reality it may not be possible to reach ALL the stories with an R44, for a price tag that is around an eight of the 355. Mind the pennys and the pounds will mind themselves!
Then again, I slightly agree with you, Sky is a private corporation and why shouldn't they buy the best helicopter. I just have a problem with Police organisations (mainly here in Ireland) spending so much on just 2 helicopters when the R44 is really suitable and so much more affordable.