Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Directive 2010/45/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on standards of quality and safety of human organs intended for transplantation states:

As emphasised by the Recommendation Rec(2006)15 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to Member States on the background, functions and responsibilities of a National Transplant Organisation (NTO), it is preferable to have a single non-profit making body which is officially recognised with overall responsibility for donation, allocation, traceability and accountability.

The net outcome of the directive and the attempt by the Government to implement same clearly flies in the face not only of the spirit of the directive but also its intent.

The only modus operandi available to Senator Daly to annul this directive was to recall the House. All the talk about Adjournment debates and Private Members' time is a load of nonsense because that would not achieve the full intent of the Senator's annulment. This is a technical but correct point. If we had five Adjournment debates and five Private Members' debates in the past 12 months, none would have resulted in what the Senator has set out to achieve and he deserves full credit for endeavouring to do that.

Since joining the EEC in 1973, successive Governments, including those of which my party was a member, have rubber-stamped willy nilly thousands of EU directives and regulation without any debate. A strong majority of the people gave consent in 1973 to join the EEC but it was never intended that directives and regulations, which currently account for 75% of all laws in the State, should be rubber-stamped. Many people say in the House and other public fora that there is a great deal of scrutiny of EU legislation but that is a load of rubbish. I have been a member of many joint committees and at one stage, as a Member of the Dáil, I served on four committees. When meetings commenced with a discussion of EU legislation, a question was put and agreed without debate. Let us be honest about it. Such legislation was rubber-stamped and it is no wonder the public have rejected various treaties because they have not been consulted. Their public representatives in both Houses do not debate directives and regulations in the way they should. Senator Daly is again correct in what he is trying to achieve in this regard.

When we joined the Union, there were not many directives but there have been several in he past 20 years. We are succumbing to Europe's wishes, whether that relates to planning regulation, turf cutting and so on. There are disparate ways in which the lives of small farmers, fishermen or ordinary people are becoming more controlled by regulations, directives and laws initiated in Europe, which have not been debated by Oireachtas Members who are supposed to be legislators. Great credit is due to the bravery and persistence of Senator Daly, who attempted to do this last year but was diverted because the view was that it could not be done. When he received a legal opinion subsequently, it transpired that this was possible.

Joe Burke from Bantry, County Cork went public yesterday on C103FM. He is currently on dialysis and he made his case clearly. He received a kidney transplant 22 years ago. He is a farmer in his late forties and he was a successful athlete following his transplant for many years but he is now on dialysis waiting and hoping for a second transplant.

What was reported on the local radio station was heart-rending because he obviously has a wife and children at home. He has a farm to run but owing to his dialysis he has low energy and cannot achieve that. I wish him luck and I hope he is successful. People like that who are brave and go public and who have lived for a further 22 years following a transplant, for which he is very grateful, deserve great credit.

This is the first time in my career in both Houses, which spans longer than I might wish, that we have once and for all put a spotlight on the issue of organ donation. As a result of Senator Daly's motion certain things have started to roll on with the Minister and Government reacting to it. If the Minister, Deputy Reilly, were of the view that Senator Daly had a point to make or that there could be some common ground, I am sure he could have called in Senator Daly over the past five weeks and called on him to abandon the motion on the basis that he would take certain actions and that there could be consent. However, he did not bother - he called his bluff. He thought Senator Daly would not get the 20 signatures and he decided to rumble on. As it became clear that the Senator would get the 20 signatories, the Minister then reacted. If we are going to allow governments to legislate and give a little here and there because of reactions to pressure, it is a very sad day. I believe the human tissue Bill would not have taken off were it not for the pressure Senator Daly applied.

The myth that there were other ways to raise this must be buried before I sit down. There was no other way to achieve what Senator Daly wanted to do. That is legally accurate and correct. It could not have happened through the use of the Adjournment matters etc.