Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for not being here before but the wind took the front off my office last night. At least I do not have to blame vandals. I did not get much of a chance to read the submission but I know about organ donation. Some 20 years ago a family member passed away after being involved in a tragic hit-and-run. At 20 years old, that person had a donor card and so the organs were donated in Beaumont Hospital. Families may be reluctant when standing around the bed to make such a choice and people hold on to any flicker of life. Although I have attended many family funerals and seen many people passing away, it was most difficult to walk out of a room which had somebody being supported by a machine, knowing that 20 minutes later that person would not be in the world. There is a benefit as we attended, through the Irish Kidney Association, a mass every year that commemorates people who have given organs. As a family, it gave us some comfort to know that people had received a gift of life in the process. That family member would have been 40 last week as he died two weeks before his 20th birthday.

There is a reluctance by family members to carry through on organ donation if they feel there is any glimmer of hope.