MLAs should have finished job they started on organ law – Naomi Long

Stormont MLAs should have finished the work they started on organ donation law changes, Alliance leader Naomi Long has said.

During the ill-fated recall sitting of the Assembly, Mrs Long said that passing the regulations for Daithi’s Law in the Assembly was the quickest way to get the opt-out donation system implemented.

She told MLAs the sitting was an “emotional and difficult day” for people awaiting transplants.

“Young Daithi MacGabhann and his family are, of course, at the forefront of our minds, they have invested time, energy and passion in the campaign for this law, but there are others who we don’t know, who face the same anxious wait and need change delivered now,” she said.

“Those people who are waiting on life-saving transplant surgery, and their loved ones, are looking to us today to finish the work we started together in the last mandate, and offer them hope that a suitable organ can be found for transplantation.”

She had urged the DUP to “do the right thing” and allow a speaker to be elected.

“That would open the door for this Assembly to pass the regulations and give people who are waiting for transplant surgery a better chance of survival, because for them, this is a life and death issue,” she said.

Robin Swann, who was health minister when Daithi’s Law was first approved by the Assembly, said the legislation was one of his proudest achievements.

The Ulster Unionist MLA said it was a law that would “not just save lives, but change lives”.

Mr Swann said the discourse leading up to the recall sitting had been influenced by party politics.

He then recalled a playful encounter he and then-first and deputy first ministers Paul Givan and Michelle O’Neill had with Daithi and his family at Stormont Castle.

“The fighting spirit that our former first minister (Mr Givan) referred to actually saw Daithi put a right hook on his chin,” he said.

“Mr Acting Speaker, in regards to this legislation and the discourse we’ve had up to it, I’m sure there’s many have wanted to be in the same place.”

Mr Swann said while his preference was for the law to be implemented at Stormont, he urged the Government to ensure it went through at Westminster.

“Our former first minister was right, we’ve seen the Secretary of State (Chris Heaton-Harris) and I’ve seen Westminster act at pace on many other pieces of legislation in regards to this,” he said.

“This should not be a stumbling block to him or to Westminster.”

SDLP MLA Colin McGrath said the ongoing failure to elect a speaker was an “absolute embarrassment”.

“The business we are here to address today isn’t about political parties,” he said.

“It isn’t about me, it isn’t about the SDLP, it isn’t about Sinn Fein or the DUP or any of us.

“It is about the 134 families whose loved ones are watching us here today, waiting on an urgent organ transplant and who have placed their faith in us to be able to make that possible,” he said.

Mr McGrath said passing the regulations at Westminster was the “second-best option” as it would delay the implementation of the regulations.

“Everyone that is on that transplant list deserves so much more better than second-best option,” he said.

He added: “Why is there an urgency?

“Because up to 15 people die every year here, needlessly, on the organ donation list, because we have 134 people who are now today waiting for an organ transplant.

“For those people on the organ list that are waiting, every minute counts for them, and every day we delay this legislation does not help them with their odds of getting a proper organ match.”