Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo what the previous speaker said and I thank the witnesses very much. I am quite new to this issue of organ donation. I lived in Belgium for approximately three years at the beginning of the 1990s, shortly after its system was introduced, and it was quite a hot topic there. I agreed with it at the time and I still instinctively agree. However, I wish to tease out some issues. I understand that 24 of the 27 EU member states have some sort of presumed consent or opt-out system in place. We need to consider those who are not in favour of the presumed consent model. After Belgium introduced the system in 1986 there was a significant awareness-raising campaign and perhaps the rise in organ donations could be attributed to the awareness-raising campaign rather than the legislative changes. People might argue that the US has one of the best rates of organ donation but it does not have presumed consent. Ms O'Halloran mentioned the tax incentives in one of the states. The US have what I believe is called a presumptive approach, whereby families are approached on the presumption that they will agree. With the exception of the representatives of the Irish Kidney Association, all the witnesses have mentioned presumed consent. There has been coherence on the package of measures that needs to be introduced. If the measures were all introduced, why would we need presumed consent? What difference would it make?

I found the presentations very informative and I am absolutely convinced that we need legislation. I had not realised we had an absence of primary legislation and that we only have the statutory instrument to introduce the European directive. Why would we choose presumed consent rather than a presumptive approach? Irish people do not like being told they have to do something and it is a very emotive time for families of potential donors. I want to ensure we get this right.