Winner of the Irish Healthcare Award for Best Public Health Initiative of the Year

We won! For championing awareness of haemochromatosis in Ireland, the Irish Haemochromatosis Association was the proud winner at the end of 2024, of the Irish Healthcare Awards Public Health Initiative of the Year for our education and awareness L.I.F.E campaign. Every year the Irish Healthcare Awards recognise innovation and excellence across the healthcare sector.

These prestigious awards honour individuals, teams, projects, charities and other organisations making outstanding contributions to patient care, medical research, public health and healthcare management throughout the country. Thank you to our board members, David Beggy and Brian Keegan and a particular thanks to Phil Dunne, our amazing voluntary communications expert!

We were thrilled to be originally nominated and shortlisted for TWO Irish Healthcare Awards under the Patient Education Project (non-pharmaceutical) Category and also under the Public Health Initiative category – and then of course delighted to go onto win the Public Health Initiative of the Year Award on the night!


We created a year-long social media campaign with the objective to educate and inform people about haemochromatosis. Our mission as always is to continue to raise awareness of Ireland’s most common genetic disorder and promote our message of how early diagnosis and treatment can help prevent serious health complications. Together with Harris PR, we developed engaging content for Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Our call to all the haemochromatosis community and the medical and healthcare sector is ‘Let’s work together to spread awareness and make a difference!.’

IHA News and Events

Damian Boylan is Cork’s New Lord Mayor

We would like to extend our sincere congratulations to Damian Boylan, friend, advocate and member of the Irish Haemochromatosis Association, who has just been elected as the new Lord Mayor of Cork! Damian has been an amazing public representative for several years and has made it his mission to raise awareness of haemochromatosis, having been diagnosed himself 23 years ago.

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‘We are Family’ HUK Haemochromatosis Event Belfast

Haemochromatosis UK are hosting a haemochromatosis in-person event in Belfast on the 7th October 2026. Everyone is welcome to attend. Local, national, and international standard experts will deliver a dedicated programme of talks in the beautiful Titanic Hotel. This conference is relevant to anyone affected across the UK and Ireland – even further afield. 

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World Haemochromatosis Awareness Week, 1-7th June 2026

World Haemochromatosis Awareness Week launches!! This is the most important time of the year, when we urge everyone in Ireland to recognise the symptoms of the nation’s ‘Hidden Condition’, often called the ‘Celtic Gene’. Sister and brother, Emilia and Teddy Eustace joined Alice Kelly, Anna McCarthy and Brian Keegan to launch the week.

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