Linda Nelson Murray (Fine Gael)

The Minister of State said that the IBTS has not looked for extra funding since 2023. There is still a problem in the sense that we went to a critically low level last week. I raised this last week and I ended up doing an interview on the radio and issuing a press release. Since then three people signed up, including some colleagues. That was just because of me coming out and talking about it.

We definitely need to look at the age. Why is the average age 46 if people can donate from the age of 18? Should we look at increasing the age limit above 65? We need to educate people on how one donation can save up to three lives; it is key. We need to have more clinics. Right now, 15 counties do not have clinics for the next 15 days, yet we are critically low on blood. Something is not adding up.

I will give examples of the type of text messages I received after donating blood:

Linda, thank you for donating blood in Trim. Donations made have helped patients throughout the country.

Another one said:

Linda, thank you for donating blood. Your donation has just been issued to Tallaght hospital.

Another said:

Thank you for donating blood. It has been issued to Clonmel.

I always believe that giving a present is much nicer than receiving one. There is nothing better than giving blood and getting a message like those that lets you know you have impacted on someone's life and perhaps saved them.