Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to hear it. I compliment the Technical Group on tabling the motion. I would have been disappointed and somewhat perplexed if the Government had contested it.

The vast majority of people in this country would agree to donate their life-saving organs post mortem. I will confine my remarks due to the lack of time and the fact that one goes through an established process for the donation of living organs. Despite the fact that most Irish people would probably be willing to donate their organs post mortem, we continue to have a serious problems with the supply of organs. It is undoubted that people are dying and suffering unnecessarily and that their quality of life is diminished because the State has not got its act together on consent for organ donations.

Current legislation, policy and practice dictate that citizens must opt into agreements to donate their organs. The motion seeks to change that so that a person who dies and is deemed to be suitable for organ donation would be deemed to have opted in unless he or she had opted out. That would reflect the fact that the majority of Irish people would be prepared to have their organs used to save and improve the lives of others but that many among them simply neglect to opt in. Another consequence of the current opt-in requirement is the need for medical staff to broach with relatives the delicate subject of organ donation immediately prior to or following the death of a loved one. That should never have to be done. I suggest a caveat in the legislation and policy to the effect that family wishes should never be overruled, even in an opt-out scenario.

The transition to an opt-out system of organ donation would have to be well publicised and handled with great sensitivity. Those who wish to opt out must not be made to feel like lesser human beings. People have and should continue to have the right to opt out.

I am delighted to hear that the Government is accepting this motion. I am also delighted that there is all-party consensus on the issue. Where organs were scarce, we could not blame a lack of infrastructure or a shortage of qualified professionals to use those organs. In the hopeful event that organs now become more readily available, we will have to put in place the infrastructure that is needed to make sure that the organs can be harvested and used in a timely fashion in order to dramatically cut the waiting lists for transplants that we currently have. At the end of the day, an opt-out system is not of much value unless people who need organ transplants get them as speedily as possible.

I thank the Technical Group for tabling this motion. I also thank the Minister of State for indicating the Government's willingness to accept it.

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