There has been a call for donors to make a 'special effort' to give blood in the wake of the severe weather last week.
The heavy snow & freezing conditions that came as a result of Storm Emma forced the cancellations of blood donation clinics nationwide.
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service says they are now hoping to collect 7,000 donations before St Patrick's weekend.
In a statement, IBTS Operations Director Paul McKinney said: “The national blood supply has been severely depleted over the last week as we have been unable to hold clinics, but we have continued to supply hospitals.
"As of this morning, we have just three days supply on average across all groups and just two days in O negative. We will be unable to guarantee supply to hospitals unless there is a significant increase in donations over the coming weeks to make up the shortfall."
Image: IBTS / GiveBlood.ie
He added: “With St Patrick’s Day bank holiday weekend fast approaching and Easter on the horizon, we have limited time to get the blood supply stabilised so we are asking blood donors to make a special effort to give blood over the coming weeks when there is a clinic in their area which will help to restore blood supplies."
The IBTS says it will be running four additional clinics on Sunday - in Waterford city, Drogheda, Celbridge and Doon - alongside its normal services, with full details of clinics available on the GiveBlood website.
