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Seanad
‹ An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

Organ donor awareness

Summary

A Senator marks Organ Donor Awareness Week, notes the number awaiting organs, and stresses that families should still discuss their donation wishes clearly.

Today, I wish to talk about organ donor awareness. As the Leas-Cheannaire is aware, this is Organ Donor Awareness Week. We are coming to the end of it. I would like to think especially about the family of all those people who have donated organs. At the moment, there are 550 people awaiting organs in Ireland. I know the opt-out clause is in now, which obviously makes it easier for families to know that their loved ones wished to donate an organ but I think it is very important that people still have that conversation with their loved ones so they would be 100% sure that these were their wishes. I have seen at first hand, at home in Bandon, a friend of mine who received a kidney last year. He is a different man; it is just unreal. His wife said to me that she now has her husband back and I think that sums it up.

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