The Government should embark on a campaign to boost organ transplants and take people off dialysis, an international expert in the area has said.
Such a move would save the Exchequer millions of euro in the longer term and boost the lives of those who have suffered kidney failure, he said.
Dr John Ball, chief of nephrology at Masonic Hospital Illinois warned that the expense of dialysis "will overwhelm the health system".
"It is very expensive and difficult and is not a very good lifestyle for patients. A better option is to look at how transplants can be increased," he said.
Dr Ball said worldwide demand for kidney transplants was growing at 11 per cent per year. However, the rate of available organs was only growing at around 4 per cent per annum.
A considerable amount of the demand for kidney transplants is being fuelled by the increasing incidence of type 11 diabetes.
Dr Ball said that in the US a policy had been implemented across several states which was aimed at saving the organs of road accident victims so they could be transplanted to living patients.
It involves inserting a catheter into a patient and infusing fluid to keep the organs alive. The relatives are then asked whether they will agree to the organs being harvested.
Dr Ball said about two-thirds of relatives agree with one-third refusing such requests.
"It has lead to an increase in organ availability in the US," he said.
Dr Ball said Ireland could also look at a similar scheme which had been introduced in the Netherlands. He said that around half the organs needed for transplants were obtained in this manner.
"Ireland is a similar size to the Netherlands. It would make a lot of sense to look at it," he said.
Dr Ball acknowledged there were ethical problems involved in organ transplantation. He said it was also possible to transplant the organs of people who were in hospital, dying from other incurable diseases - once they had died - and this possibility should also be pursued.
"For example, say a patient is dying from a chronic lung disease. There is no reason why the kidneys or pancreas could not be transplanted, if the organs were functional."
Dr Ball said that in the US alone, around 4,000 people per year are dying because they are on a waiting list for a transplant which does not materialise.
"The difficulty is to do transplantation in an ethical and compassionate fashion," he said. "However, very few people ever really speak up for the people who die because they were waiting for organ transplants," he said. "We believe their lives are worth saving."
Dr Ball said it costs around $68,000 (€47,756) per year to keep somebody on dialysis. He said a transplant would be fare more economic in the long term.
Dr Ball, who takes care of transplant patients post operatively, was in Dublin at the weekend to address the 9th European Day for Organ Donation and Transplantation.
The event was hosted by the Irish Kidney Association and featured talks by a number of international experts. President Mary McAleese was among those who addressed the conference.