Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator MacSharry's call for the Taoiseach to come to the House for a debate on the funding cuts to those who represent the most vulnerable in our society. As Senator van Turnhout said, the Irish Deaf Society is among the organisations that had its funding cut.

I also thank colleagues with regard to the initiative we took last year to recall the Seanad in August. They will be glad to know we will not be repeating that this year. However, I wish to inform colleagues about the result of that. While it did not attract a huge amount of attention, it was due to the recall of this House that the night before it sat, two people were employed by the national transplant authority, which only had one person prior to that and one-seventh of a secretary. This August, 20 people will be employed in organ donation. People in that area have informed me that had the Seanad not been recalled in August, the issue of how our transplant process was not as good as it should be would not have been highlighted. Colleagues will recall that on the Sunday of the preceding weekend, the head of the Spanish transplant authority, Rafael Matesanz, said that the Irish organ donation system was the worst in Europe. Due to the recall of the Seanad, the efforts of all concerned and the fact that 20 people will be employed in our organ donation system this August, we will have a better system.

However, there is always a "but", because there is always more that can be done. When we had the debate last year we talked about the need for legislation, the human tissue Bill. The legislative programme we received from the Government stated that the human tissue Bill would be published in the spring and summer session of 2014, but we still do not have it. In the first 90 days of this session, the House dealt with one legislative measure. The human tissue Bill is an important part of the organ donation infrastructure. Colleagues on the opposite side of the House read statements they were given by the Government stating that the human tissue Bill would be introduced. Those statements were made in August 2013 and the then Minister of State, Deputy Alex White, said in the House that it would be introduced in the next parliamentary session. That did not happen.

An important part of the infrastructure required to have the best organ donation system in Europe is human tissue legislation which would provide for better systems and processes. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on that but, hopefully, not in August.