Irish Blood Transfusion Service

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS), or Seirbhís Fuilaistriúcháin na hÉireann in Irish, was established in Ireland as the Blood Transfusion Service Board (BTSB) by the Blood Transfusion Service Board (Establishment) Order, 1965. It took its current name in April 2000 by Statutory Instrument issued by the Minister for Health and Children to whom it is responsible. The Service provides blood and blood products for humans.

The service is the successor to the National Blood Transfusion Association which was established in 1948 and was, itself, born from the work carried out by the St. John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland in setting up an 'on call' blood donor panel to serve hospitals in the Dublin area. In 1975 the Cork Blood Transfusion Service was amalgamated with the board, and in 1991 the Limerick Blood Transfusion Service was amalgamated with the board.

The symbol of the service is a stylised pelican, and for most of its existence the headquarters of the service was located at Pelican House (first in Lower Leeson Street and then Mespil Road) in Dublin. In 2000 the service moved to the National Blood Centre on the grounds of St. James's Hospital near Dublin Heuston railway station, on which it remains. The service maintains regional facilities at Ardee, Carlow, Cork, Limerick and Tuam.

Between 1977 and 1994 a number of people unknowingly received Hepatitis C-infected blood, and clear evidence of this did not become available until the mid-1990s. Most of those infected by the blood were women. The Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Tribunal was established by the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal Act, 1997, and amended by the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Act, 2002, to compensate people who contracted Hepatitis C or HIV as a result of receiving blood or blood products from the Service.

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