Wexford County Council to provide Blood Bikes group with new premises to continue lifesaving service
Wexford PeopleWexford County Council (WCC) has provided Blood Bikes South East with a new premises to ensure it can continue to provide its vital, lifesaving service to families across the region. Operating primarily in counties Wexford Waterford, the Blood Bikes SE team transports blood, medical supplies, and other urgent items to support healthcare organisations in the south east and beyond.
While WCC has donated a building to the Blood Bikes team in Wexford town, Councillor Aoife Rose O’Brien has asked whether additional funding could be provided for the operation of the new facility.
“All their work is voluntary and they don’t receive any state funding,” she said at the April meeting of WCC. “Can we fund the services connection for the water and electricity in their new building? It would be a small donation towards a countywide service.
“We’re putting a significant amount of money into that site already. It was never part of the arrangment that we would pay for the services,” replied chief executive Eddie Taaffe. “We’re giving them the site for free and the site development works cost €40,000.”
However, with councillors receiving a discretionary budget of their own each year, Cllr Anthony Donohue suggested the shortfall could be paid for by other means.
“I support them through my discretionary funds every year, if we all did similar it would be a great help to them,” he said.