Mr. Michael Conroy:

I will elaborate a little on Deputy Murphy O'Mahony's question as to whether the soft opt-out option is not the best of both worlds. We think it is the best way forward. The opt-out in and of itself is very important in that it gives a clear option to a person to opt out. The thrust of the legislation relates to consent, and the background to it is the Madden report and issues relating to organ retention and so on. That is very important on the one hand but, on the other, the idea of an opt-in register would have little status. There was a conversation about the donor card, which is very worthwhile but does not have the status of a guarantee. Much of the public thinks it does. Contrary to some of the commentary, we think this legislation, with the publicity that will be needed and which was covered previously, will bring clarity to the public and encourage people to talk to their families.

Regarding the question of how many people might register if there were opt-in and opt-out options and the number of people in the middle who would not avail of either option, we think there is a big fear, shared by a great many people in the donation transplant world in Ireland, that non-registration could sow a doubt in the minds of the next of kin and family members about the deceased favouring donation. Someone might say an option was available to opt in and that the deceased did not avail of it so perhaps that was a purposeful decision. This gives rise to a further element of doubt. That is one of the major reasons we are not in favour of both.