Ireland

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS), which was established in 1965, is a national organisation with statutory responsibility for collecting, processing, testing and distributing blood and blood products in Ireland. It is headed nationally by the Chief Executive who reports to the Board of the IBTS. The twelve Board members, including the Chairperson, are appointed by the Minister for Health.
IBTS has its headquarters in Dublin and a regional centre in Cork. In addition there are six local centres from where collection teams depart to collect donations in their respective regions and three fixed collection centres.

Additionally, the IBTS functions include the National Blood Group Reference Laboratory; the National Tissue Typing Reference Laboratory; the Heart Valve Bank; the National Eye Bank, the Irish Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry and a Therapeutic Apheresis Service (Cork). The IBTS is licensed to manufacture allogeneic serum eye drops and limbal stem cells. The IBTS also hosts the National Haemovigilance Office.