Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad the Minister of State did not read out the full reply, which, I know, was not written by him. It is ridiculous to say that under current EU rules on data protection we need the permission of the applicant to share the data because the Minister has already shared the data with eFlow, the courts and the Garda. The Minister can do it, and has done it.

I refer to the Minister giving the reply he gave two weeks ago. It is different from the reply he gave last Friday, 22 March in which he stated he had not been asked for it, which I accept. We are making progress. The Minister is still unaware he is sharing the data already. It is unfortunate that the Minister is unaware that he has signed the statutory instrument for private companies to have access to that data.

People indicate they want to be organ donors because they want others to know. They do not want it to be a secret. That is why it is there to be shared.

The issue for next week - hopefully, the Cathaoirleach will allow the debate - is for the Minister for Health to come in and ask why we have not asked for the data. In essence, the Minister is acknowledging that he will share the data if he is requested to do so by the Department of Health. It is obviously of concern to the Minister that what the Department of Health does with it is appropriate. He outlined that it would be the national transplant unit of the HSE, if it makes a formal application, and how that information would be used and how it would be accessed by healthcare professionals.

To use data protection as an excuse when the Minister has already shared this data from the driver licence with others is not an acceptable answer as to why there is inaction. People die on our transplant waiting list because there are not enough organs. It is a systems failure. Countries such as Croatia and Spain have surplus organs because they have better systems. This will help. If it saves one life, it is worth doing.