Irish Kidney Association Calls for Urgent Action as Organ Donation Falls to Lowest Level in Five Years

The Irish Kidney Association (IKA) today launched Organ Donor Awareness Week 2026 at the Mansion House in Dublin, where it raised concerns about the decline in transplant activity. The campaign will run from 16th to 23rd May, with the theme ‘Don’t Leave Your Loved Ones in Doubt – Share Your Wishes About Organ Donation.’

Speakers at the event include Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD, Chief Clinical Officer at the HSE, Dr. Colm Henry and incoming Clinical Lead at the HSE Organ Donation Transplant Ireland office, Prof. Peter Conlon. The lived experience of organ donation and transplantation is at the centre of the Donor Week campaign with speakers at the launch sharing their personal stories to shine a light on the importance of sharing your wishes with family and highlight the impact that organ donation can have.

A Serious Decline and a Call to Act

Against the backdrop of the extraordinary thoughtfulness of organ donors and their families, the IKA is deeply concerned about the decline in transplant activity. Figures published by the HSE show that organ donation and transplantation in Ireland fell sharply in 2025, with 202 organ transplants carried out – the lowest total in five years and well below the five-year pre-pandemic average of 282.

Deceased Donor Transplants	2025	Pre-Pandemic Average (2015-2019)
Kidney	111	128
Liver	33	61
Lungs	15	35
Heart	9	16
Pancreas	5	2

Deceased Organ Donors	68	85
Living Kidney Donors	29	40

These are not simply statistics. Behind each figure is a person – on dialysis three times a week, waiting for a lung, a liver, a heart, a pancreas – and a family living with uncertainty and hope. There are currently more than 650 people on transplant waiting lists in Ireland, over 500 of them waiting for a kidney.

What Needs to Change

The IKA is calling on the HSE and the Department of Health to take urgent and concrete action in three areas:

Greater transparency through data. Ireland cannot manage what it does not measure. The introduction of an annual Potential Donor Audit under the National Office of Clinical Audit (NOCA) is a welcome development, but its current remit is limited to the six largest hospitals in the country. This must be extended to all hospitals where potential donors may present. Furthermore, the IKA is calling for the full publication of the HSE Internal Review into transplant services.
Investment in transplant infrastructure. When Ireland’s donation rates are compared with other European countries, it is evident that we are falling behind. Many countries have already surpassed their pre-pandemic levels of activity, and some are achieving record numbers. One specific area of opportunity is the age profile of deceased organ donors: the average donor age in Ireland is significantly younger than in many European countries, suggesting that potential donors at older ages are not being identified or referred at the rate seen elsewhere.
Growing living donation. Living kidney donation saves lives and reduces waiting times. The Human Tissue Act 2024 opens new pathways for altruistic living donation for the first time in Ireland – allowing a person to donate a kidney to a stranger. The IKA calls on the HSE to resource and promote these new pathways actively, reinstating a previous target of at least 50 living kidney transplants per year – a goal which was last achieved in 2017.

The Campaign Message

This Organ Donor Awareness Week, the IKA’s message to the public is unchanged and as urgent as ever: Don’t leave your loved ones in doubt – Share your wishes about organ donation. While last June’s Human Tissue Act introduced a soft opt-out system, families remain central in the process – their assent is still required before donation can proceed where an individual has not formally opted out.

The IKA urges everyone to:

Talk to your family about organ donation today, let them know your wishes
Visit www.ika.ie/donorcard and request an Organ Donor Card or download an Organ Donor Card to the Digital Wallet on your phone.
If you do not wish to donate, record your decision on the HSE Opt-Out Register.

We are deeply grateful to the 68 donor families of 2025 whose courage and compassion in the most painful of circumstances gave the gift of life to others. But we owe it to the over 650 people currently on transplant waiting lists to be honest: we are losing ground, and the status quo is not good enough. The Human Tissue Act provides the legal framework, but it must be matched by investment in data capture, infrastructure, and capacity. Organ donation is one of the greatest expressions of community and compassion in Irish life – and Ireland can and must do better.
– Carol Moore, Chief Executive, Irish Kidney Association

Community Support

Support from organisations at the heart of communities across the country is central to the campaign’s success. An Post, the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU), community pharmacies, Libraries Ireland, Dublin and Galway City Councils, and some heritage sites, are helping to raise awareness nationwide and encourage conversations about organ donation. This support is further strengthened by patient advocacy groups and their volunteers, alongside the vital work of healthcare professionals on the front line of organ donation and transplantation, who support donor families and transplant recipients.

Gratitude to Donors and Their Families

Above all else, the Irish Kidney Association wishes to express its deepest and most heartfelt gratitude to every organ donor and their family. In 2025, 68 families, at the most devastating moments of their lives, made the selfless decision to donate the organs of their loved ones. That decision transformed the lives of transplant recipients and their families across Ireland. We also extend our profound thanks to living kidney donors, to transplant surgeons, specialist nurses, donor coordinators, and every healthcare professional whose dedication makes transplantation possible. Their work represents medicine at its most humane.