Table 1.

Milestones in Development of Irish Biobank Network

Event	Year
Biobank Ireland Trust established to promote biobanking within Ireland	2004
Biobanking incorporated into the National Cancer Strategy	2006
First Biobank Conference in Ireland - Biobank Networks, Cancer Research and Better Global Cancer Care	2008
Expert Group Report - Recommendations for the Establishment of a National Cancer Biobank[2]	2008
Biobank established at St. James's Hospital	2008
Development and ethical approval of Biobank Consent Form & Patient Information Sheet	2009
Development and ethical approval of Patient Consent Policy for Biobanking	2010
Network received commendation at Irish Healthcare Awards (Best Hospital Project Category)	2010
Development of Sample Access Policy (SAP) and standardized Biobank Consent Form (BCF) and Patient Information Sheet (PIS)	2010–2011
Partnership with National Cancer Registry of Ireland and development of mechanism for sharing data nationally	2011
Hospitals within network approve SAP, BCF and PIS	2011
SAP, BCF and PIS approved by the Data Protection Commissioner, Europa Donna Ireland and the Research and Ethics committees of each hospital within the biobank network	2011
Eoin Gaffney, BIT Co-founder, appointed Professor of Biobanking and Biospecimen Science at Trinity College Dublin	2012