Hepatitis C is a major cause of liver disease worldwide. The overall prevalence of chronic hepatitis C in Ireland is comparable to other Northern European countries, and is estimated to be between 0.5% and 1.2%. Most cases fall into defined risk groups such as people who inject drugs, people who received unscreened blood or blood products in the past and people who were born in hepatitis C endemic countries.

Hepatitis C is a notifiable disease in Ireland. There has been a steady downward trend in notifications in recent years, with 710 notifications received in 2014 compared to a high of 1,539 in 2007.2 Over two thirds of cases are male and the majority of cases reported are young to middle aged adults. Where risk factor information is reported, 80% are reported to have a history of injecting drug use. Data from Irish studies published in 1998 to 2007 indicate that the prevalence of hepatitis C infection among injecting drug users ranges from 62% to 81%