Minister for Health marks the 20th anniversary of World Blood Donor Day
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From: Department of Health
- Published on: 14 June 2024
- Last updated on: 12 April 2025
To mark the 20th anniversary of World Blood Donor Day, the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) has invited buildings and landmarks across the country to “Go Red” on 14 June 2024. The Department of Health building on Baggot Street will be one of the buildings that will “Go Red” to commemorate the occasion.
World Blood Donor Day is a World Health Organisation initiative to promote voluntary unremunerated blood donation across the world. Over the last 20 years, World Blood Donor Day has focused attention on the critical need of safe blood for patients across the world.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said:
"The global celebration of the 20th World Blood Donor Day is an extraordinary event to applaud blood donors worldwide. Their invaluable donations are lifesaving. One in four of us will need a blood transfusion as some point in our life, and the IBTS needs to collect around 3,000 donations a week to maintain the national blood supply. The availability of blood for transfusion is crucial for the treatment of patients in hospitals all over the country.
"I am urging all, whether it is your first time, or you regularly donate, to visit your nearest clinic and to give blood. Your donations are vital to ensure we keep on top of the demand from hospitals.”
The occasion is the perfect opportunity to thank blood donors globally and acknowledge the profound impact the act of donating blood has on saving lives. Stephen Cousins, National Donor Services Manager of the IBTS, said:
“World Blood Donor Day is also an opportunity for us to say a huge thank you to all of those donors who make a safe blood supply possible.”
For more information on how you can donate, visit giveblood.ie.
Notes
The IBTS has set itself a target of recruiting 15,000 new donors in 2024 to expand the current donor base.
Donated blood lasts just 35 days.
The most common blood group in Ireland is O positive and it is therefore the blood group in most demand. O negative, the universal blood group, represents only 8% of the population but is as much as 15% of all blood issued to hospitals.