Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

All Members would agree the Bill is needed and long overdue. We all get the history behind the Bill and the fact that certain families had to go through brutal circumstances . What happened in the context of organ retention and incineration can only be called a scandal. We know that, beyond what happened in CUMH, there were audits by the HSE and, at best, inappropriate means of dealing with organs, particularly those of children, even in the period from 2018 to 2021. We need to ensure the rules are specific, there is no room for manoeuvre and everyone is aware of the protocols that are required. Families have been through dreadful circumstances that one would not wish on anybody and they certainly do not need more pain to be heaped upon them, as was the case as a result of what had happened in some hospitals. There were two aspects to it. People did not realise organs had been retained or incinerated and they then had difficulty in trying to get to the truth. We have all had difficulties in dealing with certain organs of the State and the fact is this compounds bad situations and makes them far worse. It sometimes seems that no lessons have been learned, unfortunately, but I would like to think they have been learned in this case.

In fairness, all present would welcome streamlining in the context of dealing with coroners, inquests or even post mortems. I dealt with a case involving a difficulty relating to the identification of a body. I do not want to get into the detail of the case but that family, local to me, were dealing with the tragedy of having lost a family member and then had further pain heaped on them by a totally inappropriate process. That system must be changed.

We all recognise the need for organ donation. There is a need to ensure we have a system. We all welcome the idea of the soft opt-out system in the context of consent but we need to ensure that system is resourced as much as possible and that organ donation is facilitated.

I add my voice to those calling for the legislation to which the name of Dáithí Mac Gabhann has been attached to be put into operation. For that to happen, we need the DUP to get its head out of the clouds and to see the Executive returned to action in the North.

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