Northern Ireland politics: Speaker seeks to be elected amid Dyther Act delays

The Northern Ireland Assembly is due to convene on Tuesday to elect a speaker and debate the implementation of the stalled organ donation bill.

A petition put forward by Sinn Féin and supported by the Alliance has received the required 30 signatures.

Former health secretary Robin Swann said Northern Ireland's opt-out organ donation law should not become part of a “political standoff”.

DUP councillor Paul Givan said the party would meet on Monday to “take a position” on the selection of the speaker.

Northern Ireland Minister Chris Heaton-Harris said organ donation legislation could come into force within days once Parliament convenes.

Mr Swan was the minister who introduced the Organ and Consent Bill, known as the Diasa Bill, in Parliament in 2021.

It is named after six-year-old Daitha Mac Gaban from Belfast, who needs a heart transplant.

Mr Swann, an Ulster Unionist MP for Northern Ireland, told BBC News that the delays to implementing the system were “frustrating and disappointing”.

“There shouldn't be any roadblocks in this regard at this point,” he said.

The bill would introduce an opt-out system, meaning everyone over the age of 18 would be an organ donor unless they specifically indicated otherwise.

The Ministry of Health said organ donation for people under the age of 18 still requires parental consent.

He added that after the remaining bills are passed, a three-month preparation period will be required to facilitate implementation plans and public awareness campaigns before the system goes live.

Ms Daisa's parents have been campaigning for years for the legislation to be finalised and implemented, but the political crisis at Stormont has delayed their efforts.

Swan said Daisa's parents were trying to prioritise their son's health and should not have to deal with such issues.

“This is a heart-wrenching, emotionally painful enough issue for them to have to deal with without getting caught up in politics,” the UUP politician said.

Ms Daisa's father, Martin McGovern, said on Friday he would press politicians to ensure the organ donation bill was finally approved.

“I have no loyalty to any political party. My loyalty is to Daisa,” he said.

Without it the system will not come into effect.

Mac Gavan said he was “a bit more confident” the bill would ultimately be approved by Stormont MPs.

“For me, nothing is more important in the world of politics than the law of the dice,” he told BBC News NI on Friday.

“We will explore all avenues to get this done, whether that be through Parliament or through Westminster, and we will put pressure on all parties.”

He said he would speak to the DUP's Mr Givan on Friday.

Daisa and his parents travelled to the UK this week for their son to undergo heart surgery at a hospital in Newcastle.

Ms Heaton-Harris said last week that proposals to have the bill debated in Westminster rather than Stormont would take too long to complete.

He wrote to political parties on Thursday saying that once he returned to Stormont he would be “able to get this Bill into effect within days”.

“This will be the quickest and most direct route forward to bring forward this important legislation which Mr Dysa and his family have campaigned so hard for,” he told the parties in the letter, seen by BBC News NI.

But DUP MP Ian Paisley accused Ms Heaton-Harris of “political blackmail” and said she had the power to pass Dyso's Bill “with the stroke of a pen”.

“The Government should take a very tough stance and say we are responsible and the Northern Ireland Agency is responsible,” the North Antrim MP said on Friday.

“We could enact this in the House immediately, which would be a much quicker process than if Congress were to reconvene.”

Swann wrote to the Health Department's top civil servant asking whether the necessary procedural steps had been taken to allow state lawmakers to pass the bill if a parliamentary recall were to occur next week.

This follows a letter sent Friday by outgoing state Assembly Speaker Alex Maskey, who said it was “theoretically possible” to pass the bill in one session next week as long as the Department of Health already had the technical regulations in place.