Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I look forward to the Leader organising the debate on the Commonwealth. It is an interesting discussion, which has nothing to do with who is or is not a member. The issue is the value of the Commonwealth. Those who have spoken to me about it query its relevance in this century. Its importance in the previous century is probably overstated as well. It is important to some on this island and, as such, it is worthy of debate. I hope the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade will come to the House at some stage to discuss it.

The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, was unable to come to the House for a Commencement debate on organ donation. Organ donor week begins on Saturday. We have this curious situation where the Minister, in a written reply to me, stated that he was unable, owing to Brexit and for data protection reasons, to make information available to doctors and nurses on those who have indicated they would like to be an organ donor by having code 115 marked on their driving licence. In the past two years, he has made this information available to private companies, including eFlow, clamping companies, the courts and the Garda, as he should. However, he is unwilling, and apparently unable for data protection reasons - that is the excuse he gave me - to make it available to doctors and nurses who are trying to save people's lives. I wonder if the Minister would be available to come to the House to debate this issue. We may propose an amendment the Order of Business tomorrow to have him come to the House if he is not willing to attend for a Commencement debate on this issue. He indicated two weeks ago that he was not able to come to the House.

We will propose a second amendment to the Order of Business on Friday. We have seen prosecutions being taken in response to the Hillsborough disaster and people have been arrested in the North for manslaughter. I have asked officials from the Department of Justice and Equality to meet me to discuss corporate manslaughter legislation and, despite promising to do so, they have not met me in six months. In 2005, the Law Reform Commission stated corporate manslaughter legislation was needed because there was a gap in the law. This requirement arose from the hepatitis C scandal when thousands of women suffered injury and hundreds of died because the blood transfusion service knowingly contaminated and killed them. It did not care and no one went to jail. If that happened again, there would not be any prosecutions and no one would go to jail. Will the Government bring forward legislation to address this? If an event such as Hillsborough were to occur here or we had a tragic incident such as occurred over the St. Patrick's weekend in the North when persons were arrested and are facing prosecution, people would not face prosecution because the Government has refused to pass legislation.