The Government was yesterday challenged by a British campaigner on organ retention to introduce new laws that are similar in scope to legislation due to come into effect in Britain next month.
The chief executive of the National Bereavement Partnership in the UK, Michaela Willis, said the whole issue of organ retention had come to light in both Britain and Ireland around the same time, but that Britain had made far greater progress in addressing the problem.
Ms Willis told a peace and reconciliation forum organised by the Parents for Justice Group that great progress had been made in Britain since the scandals in hospitals in Bristol and Liverpool first came to light in 1999, but that Ireland had yet to restore public confidence in its system.
The establishment of the Retained Organs Commission and a summit organised by the British government's chief medical officer had allowed the families of children whose organs had been removed to have a vital say in the consultative process to introduce new legislation, she said.
"Throughout the passage of the Bill, it was reiterated that the issue of consent was fundamental and that underpinned the Act which came about in 2004, and we now have licensing and regulation which comes into force as of September this year," Ms Willis said.
Ms Willis added that Prof Deirdre Madden makes similar recommendations in her report on organ retention in Irish hospitals, but public confidence in the system here has never been restored because parents are still waiting for answers as to what happened their loved ones.