Life on the transplant list and the long wait for new legislation

For Orla Tinsley, the new legislation around organ donation is very personal. The writer and activist who is living with Cystic Fibrosis received a double lung transplant while a student in New York in 2017; she says she thinks of, and thanks, her donor daily for the life-giving gift they selflessly gave.

Back home in Ireland she is on the transplant list awaiting a kidney – she has three sessions of dialysis a week and endures difficult side-effects while she waits and hopes for the phone to ring.

The slow progress of the Human Tissue Bill is therefore very personal to her – but as she explains here, its passage will not only benefit people like her awaiting a transplant but also the medics working in this challenging area. And she points out, it benefits everyone in society as no one knows when they themselves might need such a life-saving procedure.

The new Bill would introduce an “opt out” system, whereby everyone is presumed to be an organ donor unless they specifically say otherwise. Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan, with vox pops from Katie Mellett.