Last year saw the first "severe shortage" of blood supply in three years, the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) has said.
Although the number of blood donations was up slightly by 1.4 per cent in 2005, the amount of blood issued increased by 1.9 per cent.
IBTS chair Maura McGrath
Publishing the IBTS annual report, the body's chief executive, Andrew Kelly, said the priority of the IBTS was the continuous supply of safe blood and blood products to patients in Irish hospitals.
He said maintaining blood stocks during the year proved a "difficult challenge, resulting in the first severe shortage of supply since January 2002".
A nationwide appeal for donations in June resulted in what the IBTS said was a "tremendous response" from the public.
However, it warned that demand for blood products continues to increase and that already in the first six months of this year there has been a 1.2 per cent increase in the amount of red cells and an 8.9 per cent increase in the amount of platelets issued to hospitals.
National medical director Dr William Murphy said a new technique to extend the shelf life of platelets from five to seven days had been introduced. Bacterial testing on all platelets prepared by the IBTS was also introduced.
Dr Murphy said safety was "once again dominated by concerns over variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease".
Some 3,000 blood donations are needed in Ireland every week as red cells from donor blood have a lifespan of just 35 days.
Just 3 per cent of the Irish population are donors, yet one in four people will require a blood transfusion at some point in their lives. Over 1,000 people receive blood transfusions every week in Ireland.
A car crash victim may need up to 30 units of blood, and a bleeding ulcer could require between three and 30 units, according to the IBTS.