Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The report on the public hearings by the Joint Committee on Health and Children on the heads of the protection of life during pregnancy Bill 2013 was signed off on this morning and will be available to Members at 1 p.m. It is a valuable document setting out a summary of the evidence given to the committee by the various experts and will provide important context for the debate following publication of the Bill. That process has shown the importance of public consultation and inviting contributions from all sides of an argument. I also take the opportunity to acknowledge the Senators and Deputies who made very constructive contributions during the course of the debate.

On the human tissue Bill, it is vital that we move this issue forward as soon as possible in the context of the broader question of organ donation. We are far behind other countries in Europe in this regard. I gave the example recently that one kidney transplant led to a saving of €750,000 during the lifetime of the recipient.

It is most important that the Bill which, I understand, is at draft stage, is brought forward at an early date. I call on the Leader to seek clarification from the Minister for Health on the matter. If necessary the Bill should be commenced in this House because it is important that we move forward. We need to deal with this issue. There are more than 1,800 people on dialysis at the moment, compared with Norway where there are only 370 patients, because it has a far more proactive policy in place in respect of organ donation.

I wish to raise one other issue in dealing with this Bill. One of the things we do not incorporate in this country relates to where there is no provision for living donors to recoup even their out-of-pocket expenses. They must take time off from work and so on and that should be part of the Bill as well. That is a major debate and we need to have it. If necessary, in the area of presumed consent to a donation we should have a similar consultation process to the process we had in the protection of life during pregnancy Bill. It would be useful to have a public consultation on that issue as well and I call on the Leader to seek clarification.