Last year was a record year for organ transplantation in Ireland, the Irish Kidney Association (IKA) has said.

Launching Organ Donor Awareness Week, which runs from March 31-April 7, the IKA highlighted that in 2017, 327 organs were transplanted into 321 patients. Twenty-three of those who underwent transplants were children.

The IKA noted that almost 3,500 transplanted people in Ireland are enjoying extended life today because of the generosity of organ donors.

"Advancements in medicine, combined with our hospitals successful transplanting teams and the generosity of families of deceased and living donors has led to this very positive outcome. We hope that this can give hope to the people in transplant waiting pools and the many more people in organ failure hoping to be listed for a lifesaving transplant," commented IKA chief executive, Mark Murphy.

At the end of 2017, 524 people were actively waiting for transplants, including heart, lung and kidney transplants.

Mr Murphy thanked all of the families involved in making decisions about organ donation.

"The selfless and profound generosity of the families of 99 deceased donors in Ireland resulted in a total of 260 deceased donor transplants taking place in 2017. The 260 deceased donor organ transplants comprised 141 kidneys, 62 liver, 16 heart, 36 lungs and five pancreas transplants," he noted.

Last year also saw a record 51 living donor kidney transplants, which were carried out by the Beaumont Hospital transplant team. Meanwhile, Beaumont carried out 12 paediatric kidney transplants in Temple Street Hospital from both living and deceased donors.

"We are aware that an additional 15 Irish patients underwent 16 HSE funded transplants in the UK, including eight paediatric liver transplants, two paediatric lung transplants and one paediatric heart transplant," Mr Murphy said.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the IKA, which was founded in April 1978. It also marks the 40th anniversary of the kidney donor card, which has since evolved into the organ donor card.

This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the first time dialysis treatment was used in Ireland (May 1958).

"We have come a long way since the IKA began and at that time in 1978, there were only three places in Ireland for patients with kidney failure to undergo dialysis treatment. Today, there are 23 locations around the country," Mr Murphy pointed out.

Speaking at the launch of Organ Donor Awareness Week, the Minister of State for Health Promotion, Catherine Byrne, said that the legislation governing this area is expected to change soon.

‘'It's intended to bring Draft Heads of a Human Tissue Bill to Government in May. One aim of the legislation is to make organ donation the norm in Ireland in situations where the opportunity arises, and so the legislation proposes to change the current system to one of soft opt-out consent.

"The introduction of an opt-out system of consent will be accompanied by a publicity campaign and we hope this will encourage people to discuss organ donation with their loved ones," she said.

She emphasised that if your next-of-kin knows that you wish to become a donor in the event of your death, ‘it will make their decision to allow donation much easier'.

The key messages of Organ Donor Awareness Week are that families need to talk to each other about organ donation, people need to carry organ donor cards and drivers need to permit code 115 to be included on their driver's licence.

The week is also a fundraiser for the IKA, and volunteers will be selling forget-me-not flower emblems, brooches, lapel pins, pens and shopping trolley discs nationwide.

All proceeds will go towards patients on dialysis and those fortunate enough to have received a kidney transplant. The IKA's charitable activities include the provision of a 13-double bedroom, free accommodation facility for patients and their families in the grounds of Beaumont Hospital and holiday centres located in Tramore and Kerry. The IKA also provides services such as patient advocacy, counselling and financial aid to those affected.

Organ Donor Cards can be obtained by phoning the IKA on (01) 620 5306 or free texting the word DONOR to 50050. More information is also available here.