Heart Children Ireland was founded in 1990 by a group of parents who met in Our Lady's Hospital in Crumlin while their children were being treated for congenital heart defects. They realised there was a need for a support group and with the help of staff including Dr Desmond Duff and Sr Chris McMahon they set about organising one.

In the early stages they received help from Heartbeat, the existing support group in Northern Ireland and their chairman Colm Vaughan, attended some early meetings.
Six people attended the first meeting in January 1990. From these small beginnings the group grew and was very successful, due to the hard work of the initial members. They set up two branches, in Dublin and Cork and by 1992 membership had increased to 140 member families.

Since its foundation the group has grown, thanks to the hard work of its members who are all volunteers and all have a child or children with CHD. Heart Children now has over 800 member families and has raised well in excess of one million Euros for the cardiac unit in Crumlin, and also for services in The Mater Hospital were children are treated when they leave Crumlin.

Although Heart Children is primarily a support group we have become involved in both fundraising and lobbying, we see these as an integral part of the support we provide. Over the years we have had meetings with successive Ministers for Health and officials from the ERHA, we have used these meetings to secure improved treatment and facilities for sufferers with CHD and to highlight deficiencies in the existing services.