28/04/2026
A great day for Blood Bike Groups across the island.
Blood Bikes East welcomes the Minister's Announcement to allow Blood Bikes Groups in Ireland to use Bus Lanes. This is a huge recognition of our work over the last 14 years at Blood Bikes East.
Sincere thanks, Aengus O Snodaigh TD, for bringing the bill forward in July 2025 and seeing it now enacted into law.
His comments below from July 2025;
My new Blood Bike Bill would make life easier for volunteers providing vital emergency services.
A bill I have drafted to support volunteer Blood Bike services has been deemed in order for introduction by the Dáil Bills Office, and will progress to first-stage debate on Tuesday 15th July.
The proposed Road Traffic and Roads (Blood Bikes Exemption) (Amendment) Bill 2025 would extend exemptions from road tolls and the right to use bus lanes, which currently apply to ambulances, to also cover blood bike services.
For years, the provision of vital and emergency health care in Ireland has relied in part on unpaid volunteers who operate rapid response motorbike-based courier services free of charge for healthcare facilities in the form of blood bike groups.
This work includes the transport of blood, platelets, medicinal samples, surgical instruments, human donor milk and other clinical products to hospitals, medical centres, nursing homes, general practitioners and other healthcare facilities and contexts.
At present, however, these volunteers face being penalised for fulfilling this potentially life-saving work, as they have to pay road tolls for transporting blood and other clinical essentials to where they are needed.
Ambulances are exempt from road tolls and are permitted to use bus lanes and other restricted traffic areas, under an exemption provided in existing road traffic legislation.
My bill is a simple one which would expand the exemptions currently provided to ambulances to apply to blood bikes as well.
This follows on from a previous bill I brought forward in 2017 to expand the exemption to sea and river rescue teams, including Coastguard, Civil Defence and the RNLI, and would put this state in line with international best practice, such as the exemption from road tax provided for blood bikes by the British Government.
This is a simple initiative to help volunteers continue to save lives, and I hope the government will support the bill to pass into law.
