The soft opt-out organ donation law "is changing the narrative around how we think about organ donation", campaigner Orla Tinsley has said.
Ms Tinsley received a double-lung transplant in 2017 and made a documentary about her health as she waited for the transplant.
She also underwent a kidney transplant last year.
The first phase of the Human Tissue Act 2024 comes into operation today, meaning everybody will be considered an organ donor unless they opt-out or are included in a so-called excluded group.
The act will introduce an opt-out system of consent for organ donation and will allow for altruistic living organ donation to strangers.
If a person does not register, they will be considered a potential organ donor and the family will be approached to give final consent.
"It's still giving some power to the family, which needs to be dealt with through a lot of education," Ms Tinsley said.
Speaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she said that organ donation will go from something "we don’t want to talk about" to something "that you have to think about", adding: "If you don’t have a conversation with your family member and choose whether you opt in or opt out, then you can’t have your wishes followed through with."
It has been proven that a soft opt-out alone does not make a big difference to organ donations and she said that while there was a lot of great work being done, more could be done to continue the progress around informing people of organ donation.
There should be specific modules taught in schools to teach about organ donation "in a very clear and dedicated way and particularly emphasising what soft opt-out means", she said.
Support and education for those waiting on a transplant is also really important, Ms Tinsley added.
"The act of becoming an organ donor can save up to eight people’s lives. I personally am alive because of two people who decided to be organ donors. It's a miracle of life and a gift of life that is one of the most profound legacies that someone can leave," she said.
The National director of Organ Donation Transplant Ireland said that it is very difficult to have a hard opt out, where the absence of registration means that the organs can be taken with or without family buy in.
Speaking on the same programme, Dr Brian O'Brien said there are countries which have it as an option, "but it's just about never done because taking organs when a family are saying that this is not what the patient would want or this is not their wish is, realistically, not very feasible."
Dr O’Brien, who is a consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine at Cork University Hospital, added that "we're quite fortunate in Ireland that we have a strong sense of kind of social cohesion that I think translates into a generally positive approach or response to this.
"The figures would indicate across the board that about 80% of Irish families actually acquiesced to donation. That's also consistent with surveys of public opinion.
"When people are asked, generally speaking, about 80 to 90% of individuals when they were asked say that they would be willing to donate their organs in the event of their death.
"The figure is at the higher end of that range for younger people, who typically make on the one hand, the very best donors, but conversely, the most tragic circumstances in which families are often barely able to even consider the question.
"So it is in that light that we hope that this change in legislation will stimulate discussion and will increase maybe a little that positivity."
