Planned new legislation will undoubtedly increase the supply of organs for transplantation, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said.
Speaking at the Select Committee on Health, he said that Ireland is to move from an opt-in system for organ donation to an opt-out system.
The committee is examining the Human Tissue Bill 2022 which also deals with related issues like regulating the retention, storage and use of organs after a post-mortem examination.
Under the proposed changes, an opt-out system would allow for organ donation after death, unless the deceased had previously opted out.
Sinn Féin Health Spokesperson David Cullinane said his party broadly supported the bill but wanted to see some amendments.
He told the Committee that the Irish Kidney Association wanted to see a change to include an opt-in as well as an opt-out register.
Mr Cullinane said there were around 1.4 million people who had expressed their wishes to donate after death, via a code on their driving licence.
But he said that one of the problems was that Ireland has no register of people who have indicated their wish to donate organs after death.
Mr Donnelly said that officials from his department will be meeting the Irish Kidney Association next week, to discuss amendments they are proposing.
He said that one of the issues about an opt-in register is that it would be easier for families to say yes to donations as a person would have stated their preference.
But Mr Donnelly said that for everyone else, families might think the deceased person had not positively opted in and wonder whether they had opted out.
There were 250 organ donations last year and the numbers have increased since the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Donnelly told the committee that during the first quarter of this year, there were more organs donated than in any previous quarter and this was important for the hundreds of people waiting for an organ transplant.
The new legislation comes as this year marks 60 years since the first transplant took place in Ireland, a kidney transplant at the old St Vincent's Hospital in St Stephen's Green in Dublin.
