Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to thank witnesses for their contributions. In particular I single out those who shared very personal stories on their journeys involving organ donation, which is the nub of the issue. What would happen if it was my sister, brother or daughter? I have experience of it in that two years ago my uncle was a recipient of a kidney from another family member. I have seen the life-changing impact not just on him but on all of us in terms of our appreciation of him and how selfless the donor was.

Deputy Kelleher asked what choice we would make if we were faced with it. I commend those who spoke because it is not easy, and I thank them very much. There has been much talk in recent years about organ donation, particularly during the campaigns mounted in awareness weeks. In recent months the conversation has changed with regard to the soft opt out model, which is something we need to think about and something which I support. In my preparation for today I discussed this issue at home with family members and friends. An issue of which I became aware, and perhaps somebody might be able to shine a bit of light on it, is that gay people are not allowed to be organ donors. Given the amount of testing and tissue matching carried out in the Mater Hospital why can my friend, who happens to be gay, not carry a donor card? If this is not true it needs to be stated because I was confronted with it in the run-up to today's meeting. On the back of the very insightful weekend we had on marriage equality and the steps society is taking-----