Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. The issue I wish to raise is that of organ donation. As the Minister knows, the system in Ireland is not all it should be. For too long, we did not have organ donor co-ordinators. There are many staff working excellently in the field very much on a voluntary basis. We were to appoint 20 new staff in this area as part of the HSE's service plan but there was only one line in the plan on organ donation. When one considers the number of people waiting for an organ donation and the cost to the Exchequer of organ donation, including the cost of dialysis for those in need of kidney transplants, one realises that if we had an improved system, there would be savings to the Exchequer over time.

We had the Seanad recalled the summer before last. The night before it happened, two HSE staff members were asked to move to the organ transplant office so that it could be announced in this Chamber that there was activity in the field. I welcome anything that results in activity and improvements in the field of organ donation. The appointment of 20 staff, which was to take place in August of this year, is also welcome. I hope to find out from the Minister what they are doing and what is his vision for organ donation in his term in the Department of Health.

The Minister has come from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and I raised the following issue with that Department. We are collecting data from our driving licensing system, whereby people tick the box on whether they want to be organ donors, yet the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport will not let the Department of Health access the information. It is a simple process of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport asking people, when people are applying for the driving licence card, if it is okay to share the information with the Department of Health and with doctors in the event of someone being suitable as an organ donor. It would make the decision for the family so much easier. We collect the data but it is not shared or is not available to be shared. Now that the Minister has spanned both Departments, perhaps he has a view on working with his colleagues in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. I accept we are here to discuss the new staff in the organ donation section.