The 16th European Heart and Lung Transplant Championships will be held in the city of Vantaa, Finland from Monday 11th July to Friday 15thJuly 2016.    

The Games are for all heart, lung and heart-lung transplant recipients.     The sports are Volleyball, badminton, tennis, table tennis, cycling, petanque (Boules), swimming, golf, cross-country running and athletics.

The host country’s chosen sporting event is 10 pin bowling. 

Athletes are divided into different age groups i.e. 5-17, 18-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70+

Final costings for both participants and supporters will be known by January 2016.  Registration costs including accommodation will be approx €580 – not including flights.   This price does however cover accommodation including most meals and travel to and from the games etc   The Association is at present reviewing group flight options to Finland.    Supporters, family and friends are more than welcome to come along.   

All registration must be processed through the team manager as each country must register as a group.

Our team will travel as HEART AND LUNG TRANSPLANT TEAM IRELAND

We would love to bring our biggest team yet to Finland in 2016.   The Chairman of the European Heart and Lung Transplant Federation is one of our own members and former Chairman of the IHLTA, Brendan Gilligan.     To find out more about the Games you can contact Team Manager Robert McCutcheon on 0872214753 or email  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

For more information on featured events, please see articles relating to previous Games on this website. Full details are available on http://www.vantaa2016.fi/en/games/ehltc

We are pleased to announce that our Christmas Cards are now on sale.

Once again, we have enlisted the help of the wonderful students of Eureka Secondary Schools Kells, who have provided us with an array of excellent festive paintings. It is our intention to recgonise their contiuned support in the coming month.

As the number of transplantees in Ireland continues to swell (30 lung and 12 heart this year as of late October), the need has never been greater for the provision of support to our members. Accordingly, 100% of the €5 selling price of a pack of cards will go directly to the IHLTA.

The various designs for this year's selection are available to view under the appropriate tab in the Photo Galleries section of this website.

Cards are available from the Heart & Lung Transplant Unit in the Mater Hospital or request from any of the IHLTA Committee members. Email orders can be placed by contacting This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

In conjunction with European Day for Organ Donation, the IHLTA staged an Information Day in the Crowne Plaza Santry on Saturday 10 October 2015. The first event of this nature to be organised by ourselves, the aim of the day was to provide recently transplanted people with an opportunity to avail of advice and guidelines relating to good practice.

Speakers from the Transplant Team in the Mater Hospital were in attendance on the day as well as a representative from the Citizens Advice Bureau - the content of said presentations will be made available here at a later date. We also had an address from Chairman Paddy O'Mahony, Treasurer Robert McCutcheon on the 2016 Transplant Games and Ron Cummins, a member who recently completed a mammoth walk around the coastline of Ireland.

The day proved to be a huge success, informing many of our newest members of just what the 'next steps' after transplant really are.

We would like to take the opportunity to thank all of those who attended. Special recognition must, of course, go to the Mater Hospital staff who gave up their free time to address the crowd, namely: Ian and Sarah (Clinical Nurse Specialists), Barbara Parlon (Clinical Nurse Specialist), Irene Byrne (Senior Physiotherapist), and Patricia Ging (Pharmacist). Their continued excellence and dedication is hugely appreciated by all.

It is our intention to expand the Information service offered by the IHLTA. Updates regarding future events will be conveyed to members through this website, Facebook and by the staff in the Mater Hospital.

A selection of photographs from the event are available in the gallery section.

Saturday 10 October marked the annual European Day for Organ Donation (EODD). As noted by the European Council in their literature for the event, the need for organ transplants is increasing worldwide. It is a day about helping member states to promote organ donation and transplantation, and is also an opportunity to honour all organ donors and their families and to thank transplantation professionals throughout Europe whose hard work helps saving lives and improving the quality of life of many people.

To acknowledge the occasion here, members of the IHLTA manned a number of information stands in the Mater Hospital on Friday October 9 – the aim of which was to field questions from the general public and distribute donor cards. Reaction was overwhelmingly positive, with a high take-up of donor cards throughout the day. We also spoke with a number of inpatients, some of whom currently await a life-saving transplant.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who approached us on the day and also the members in question who very kindly gave up their time.

For further information on EODD, please see: https://www.edqm.eu/en/events/european-day-organ-donation-eodd

Pictured below are Kevin Hickey and Eoin Trill, two of the volunteers on the day.