A change in law inspired by the plight of a six-year-old heart transplant patient has become a touchstone issue in political debate surrounding post-Brexit Northern Ireland.
Belfast schoolboy Dáithí Mac Gabhann, who has been waiting on a new heart for five years, became the name and face of his parents’ successful campaign to increase the number of donors through a change in law.
However, current government stalemate over Brexit trading arrangements between the UK and Northern Ireland—which has left the province without an executive—means this law cannot be enacted.
The Organ and Tissue Donation (Deemed Consent) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022—known as ‘Dáithí’s Law’—was passed in March 2022.
It changes the system of organ donation to an opt-out system whereby it would be considered that everyone would be willing to donate their organs unless they have formally opted out, or are exempt.
After receiving royal assent, the legislation was due to be put in place in the coming months.
At present, however, that cannot happen, due to the refusal of Northern Ireland’s largest unionist party, the DUP, to form a power-sharing government over issues surrounding the Northern Ireland Protocol.
A key aspect of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, the protocol was jointly designed by London and Brussels to keep Ireland’s land border free-flowing following the UK’s departure from the EU.
The arrangements shifted customs and regulatory checks to the Irish Sea and created new red tape on the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with trade in the region remaining subject to certain EU Single Market rules.
Blackmail
Since collapsing the executive in Stormont last February, the DUP has refused to take part in numerous Assembly recalls until, they say, issues around the protocol are fixed.On Tuesday, the unionist party will once again refuse to be part in another government recall, this time for talks on how ‘Dáithí’s Law’ can be put in place.
“Tuesday’s sitting will be the 5th time the NI Assembly has been recalled since last year’s election,” he said.
“On each of the four previous occasions those who submitted the recall petition knew in advance that a Speaker would not be elected and those bringing MLAs to Stormont once again know the outcome will be the same.”
Mr Lyons added that the legislation necessary to fully enact Dáithí’s Law “can be tabled and enacted at Westminster and organ donation should not be used as blackmail for the return of devolution”.
“Sir Jeffrey Donaldson will work with the government and the House of Commons Speaker to table an amendment to the Executive Formation Bill in Parliament.
“Parliament is sovereign and has legislated on numerous issues for Northern Ireland. We wish to not only ensure that the law is introduced but that there is no delay to the timescale originally envisaged.”
The unionist politician concluded: “There will be no restoration of the NI Assembly and Executive until the Protocol is replaced with arrangements that unionists, as well as nationalists, can support.”
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has raised concerns that this route would take longer and might prove difficult.
Vacuum
“I think what this case of Daithi’s Law shows is the human consequences of the political disagreements at the moment,” Katy Hayward, a professor of Political Sociology at Queen’s University told The Epoch Times.“The fact that the parties are disagreeing about which legislator should bring through the necessary implementing legislation is also a sign of the political tensions at the moment.
“So the fact that the DUP wants it to come through the House of Commons shows that for them, the logical alternative is Westminster, and wanting to keep it clear that Westminster continues to be the overarching sovereign Parliament for Northern Ireland. It’s symbolically important for them.
“The fact that we have will have the MLAs convening in Stormont tomorrow (Tuesday) in something that they know will be a vain, hopeless attempt to move this legislation forward themselves is also symbolically significant about a sense of growing helplessness when it comes to devolution in Northern Ireland 25 years on.”
Professor Hayward, who has 20 years’ research and teaching experience on the impact of the EU on the Irish border and peace process, said that the vacuum created by the impasse will continue to cause significant problems in Northern Ireland.
“As time goes on, there'll be more and more gaps in decision making. At a time of crisis in the health care sector, cuts in education, funding, an energy crisis, etc,” she said.
Beacon of Hope
Last week, six year-old Daithi underwent another heart procedure in England as he awaits a new heart.On Friday, his father Mairtin MacGabhann implored the region’s politicians to do all they could to get the law implemented.
“We’ve just got to get this done. Come on,” he told BBC Radio Ulster.
“Daithi deserves it. The organ donation and transplantation community deserve it.
“I’ve said it before, it’s much more than Daithi’s Law, it’s the beacon of hope.
“It’s the hope that the transplantation and organ donation community here, we just need a wee bit of hope at the moment.”
His family also urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris to step in and pass the enabling legislation at Westminster.
Speaking on Monday, Sinn Fein MLA Pat Sheehan said his party will be in the Assembly chamber in an effort to elect a Speaker and pass the necessary regulations.
He urged “no more delay in getting this legislation into law”.
“We owe it to little Daithi and all those people desperately waiting on an organ transplant,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health at Stormont told PA that draft regulations around the delayed legislation are currently being finalised and will be available to MLAs at the beginning of next week.
Several previous recalls of the Assembly have all ended in failure due to the DUP’s stance on preventing the election of a Speaker.
Speaking in the Commons last week, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris announced that he was extending the deadline for forming a new Stormont Executive until 2024.
Legislation introduced in Parliament on Thursday to extend the period for forming an Assembly to Jan. 18, 2024.
The Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill will retain the power to call a snap election at any time during that period, he told MPs.
