Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That was disappointing. The Minister of State referred to the necessity of not providing a financial incentive or award to a potential donor. I have met the lady in question. Knowing that she would not be reimbursed for the additional cost did not in any way deter her from donating a kidney. Donating is a marvellous thing for someone to do.

A group of people are being discriminated against, and the Minister of State knows as well as I do that women are most likely disproportionately represented in that group. It is a discriminatory practice. While there may not be what would in industrial relations terms be called a de facto loss of earnings, an expense is incurred. Someone must be paid to do the work that Nicola was doing. I should stress that Nicola in no way sought any financial award for this. She gave a marvellous gift to her sibling freely. Following my conversation with her, I am of the view that while the scheme is discriminatory, that is not the Department's intention. There is an anomaly that can be addressed without creating any financial incentive. We are discussing people who could, for example, be caring at home for an elderly relative, children or a family member with special needs. They will have to spend money to get that work done.

It would not be unreasonable to extend the scheme. We are not discussing a large number of people, but a very small one. They are doing a marvellous thing. We all recognise how essential living donors are. There should be some movement on the Department's part in this regard because I do not believe that this anomaly was its intention.

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