People are being urged not to leave their loved ones in doubt about their wishes around organ donation.
The appeal has been made as part of Organ Donor Awareness Week, which runs from 20 May to 27 May.
'Don't Leave Your Loved Ones in Doubt!’ is the theme of this year’s campaign, with families urged to have the conversation about their intentions in the event of a death.
The Irish Kidney Association, which organises the event, said sharing wishes when a person is in good health makes it a less stressful decision for a family.
There are between 550 and 600 people on waiting lists for organ transplants every year in Ireland, including heart, lung, liver, kidney, and pancreas.
Last year, 250 organ transplant operations were carried out here, which represent 44 more transplants than in 2021.
The organs were made available by the families of 86 deceased donors and 33 living kidney donors.
The total number of operations compares to a five-year average between 2015 and 2019 of 283.
In the first three months of this year, a record 81 transplants were carried out in Ireland.
The Chief Executive of the IKA, Carol Moore, said the start to 2023 "offers further encouragement that we can return to or surpass the five-year average of transplant activity experienced pre-pandemic".
She said, "patients on transplant waiting lists live in hope that organs will become available to them and a strong public show of support by requesting organ donor cards builds that hope" .
Ms Moore added, "the uncertainty associated with waiting for an organ transplant is difficult as the future is unknown and there is the knowledge that in order to be given the gift of life another family will be grieving the loss of a loved one".
Dr Catherine Motherway, the Clinical Lead for Organ Donation and Transplant Ireland in the HSE, said organ donation saves and transforms the lives of recipients by offering the gift of life.
She said it "would not be possible without the selfless generosity of our organ donors and their families".
"Our living donors give of themselves freely to help a loved one," she added.
Dr Motherway has also encouraged people to "let their families know their wishes, have that conversation please".
She said organ donation "can bring comfort in a very dark and difficult time" for bereaved families.
Speaking at the event, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said he is "delighted to see that the organ donation and transplantation system in Ireland has recovered substantially from the impact of Covid-19, with 250 transplants performed last year".
He said the number of transplants carried out in the first quarter of this year represents "the best start to a year that our organ donation and transplantation system has ever had".
Minister Donnelly said he is committed to increasing organ donation and transplantation rates and "to make organ donation the norm where possible".
He said the Human Tissue Bill will introduce an opt-out system of organ donation.
"It will help us to increase the amount of organs available for donation to patients in need. Consent will be central to this system, and those who object to donating their organs, for whatever reason, will be able to opt out."
2023 marks a number of milestones including the 10th anniversary of the introduction of Code 115 on driving licences.
It indicates the holder's willingness to be an organ donor and has been signed up to by 1.45 million drivers.
It is also 60 years since the first transplant took place in Ireland, a kidney transplant at the old St Vincent’s Hospital in St Stephen’s Green in Dublin.
People who want to be organ donors can carry an organ donor card, have Code 115 included on their driver’s licence or download the digital organ donor card app on their phone.
