A bitter row over the proposed transfer of blood-testing from Cork to Dublin is believed to be behind the resignation of the chairwoman of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, Prof Patricia Barker.
While Prof Barker did not issue any statement, the IBTS laid the blame on the row over the transfer of testing.
"Unfortunately, for some time the chairman and executive of the IBTS has come under severe personal criticism from elements who opposed the board's 1999 decision to centralise all donation testing to Dublin," it said in a statement.
It added that "public opinion formers in some parts of the country could only issue statements criticising the chairman and executive for attempting to bring an organisation forward in the interests of donors, patients and staff".
In April the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, publicly defended Prof Barker after the senior IBTS official in Cork, Dr Joan Power, alleged the board had misled an Oireachtas committee on the background to the transfer decision.
Prof Barker, who is registrar of Dublin City University, sent a letter to the committee complaining bitterly about how it treated her and her colleagues when they appeared before it.
The IBTS last night complained that the committee had allowed "unfounded allegations" to remain outstanding.
The Minister could not be contacted for comment.
Earlier this year the industrial relations specialist, Mr Phil Flynn, investigated weaknesses in the management and reporting structures which were seen to have contributed to the row between Cork and Dublin. He criticised both centres for their handling of the issue.
Earlier this year Dr Power was removed from a number of key bodies, but Mr Flynn's report recommended she should be involved in all relevant committees.
Mr Flynn's report, which recommended changes in management structures, was accepted by the board.
It was Dr Power who, in Cork in 1994, uncovered the hepatitis C scandal. Tensions between the two centres are said to date from that time.
The IBTS said it "sincerely regrets" Prof Barker's resignation and praised her for putting a "tremendous" amount of work into the organisation.