Beaumont Hospital in Dublin has said it is on course to reach a 50% increase in living donor kidney transplants this year.
So far 46 living donor transplants have been performed since the start of the year.
There has been a big increase in living donors but a fall-off in organ donations following death, according to the latest annual report for the National Centre for Kidney Transplantation at the hospital.
It says the rate of deceased organ donation has steadily decreased due to a number of welcome factors, most notably improvements in road safety and neurosurgical care.
The growth in the living donor programme has partially offset this decline in deceased donors.
However, with 171 new patients added to the waiting list last year, the rate of transplantation is still not keeping pace with demand.
Doctors say it is important for the public to be aware that a living kidney donor does not have to be related to a potential recipient, but the organ must match.
The report shows there were 568 patients on the kidney transplant waiting list at the end of last year, a reduction on the previous year.
A total of 153 kidney transplants were performed in 2015.
Transplant surgeon Dilly Little said that currently the average waiting time for a deceased donor kidney transplant is 34 months.
However, if a suitable and willing living donor can be identified, the transplant can proceed in a matter of months.
The report says that kidney transplants performed at the centre are functioning three years longer than their European counterparts.
Meanwhile, no combined kidney-pancreas transplants were performed last year following the decision to transfer the pancreas transplant programme to St Vincent's University Hospital.
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