The Tánaiste and Minister for Health has moved to reassure people about the safety of blood supplies after it emerged that a man being treated as a probable variant CJD case had been a blood donor.
Two people were treated with the man's blood, one has since died of an unrelated medical condition and the other is being treated in a Dublin hospital.
Earlier, Mary Harney said there is no way to test for vCJD when a person is donating blood.
However, she said the Irish blood supply operates to the highest international standards, and the public should be reassured that all the necessary safeguards are in place.
Ms Harney said it was always predicted that there would be a number of cases of vCJD in this country.
It is not known how the man in question contracted vCJD, but the incubation period can be up to ten years.
