Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is my privilege to speak on this motion, not least as Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children which had the privilege in the past two weeks of hosting witnesses and kidney and other organ donors and recipients in its rooms. I am very conscious that Joe Brolly and Shane Finnegan have become poster people for organ donation and, as Deputy Ó Caoláin noted, they have raised the profile and created a new template for how we can promote advocacy for organ donation. We must change the cultural attitude towards donation and make it the norm in our country. An opt-out system would require an extensive and well-resourced communication strategy, along with other infrastructure. In the four minutes available to me I will not go through all of that. However, this issue has been debated in many countries and it is time that we, as a Government and as a country, began to look seriously at how we can make changes and increase our rate of organ donation. Countries that have changed to an opt-out system have seen a significant increase in their organ donation rates. Over a three-year period Belgium has seen an increase of more than 100% and Singapore has had a massive 700% increase. Any similar increase here would make a positive impact for those who require a transplant.

Those of us who attended the presentation in Croke Park last night can testify to the improvement a kidney or other organ donation makes to the life of a person who needs and deserves one. If we change to a soft opt-out system we must ensure there are simple and convenient procedures that allow people to opt out. We must also make it possible for people to change their mind at any time. Equally, we must ensure that poor language or reading skills, educational levels or the socio-economic, health or other status of individuals will not limit a person's ability to opt out of the system.

I am pleased the Government has put into the programme for Government this proposal to change to a soft opt-out system, with presumption of consent to donation upon death, unless specifically stated otherwise. I commend Deputy Fleming for his motion and thank him for participating at our health committee hearings. The Minister for Health and his Department have confirmed to us there would be no instance where organ donation would proceed without the consent of the deceased person's family. A person's family will always have the final say, which is the way it should be. This maintains the principle that donation is a gift that will help to change the life of another person. As legislators and Members of this august House, we must help not only to change public opinion and perception but must also lead it so that organ donation becomes the norm rather than the exception.

Equally, I praise Deputy Patrick O'Donovan who recently held a very informative presentation on organ donation given by people from my county, Cork, and from County Limerick. Legislation alone will not solve our shortage of available organs. We have heard this from Jim Egan and David Hickey and others at our committee. We must look at the overall infrastructure, at our systems and how potential donors and their families are encouraged to donate.

I hold up this iPhone to demonstrate that we can all download an e-app which in this era can make it easy for all of us to opt in, even those of us who are technically challenged. I commend the Bill and look forward to further discussions on this issue at the health committee.

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