The plight of a six-year-old boy in need of a heart transplant has taken center stage in Northern Ireland's political deadlock, but the deadlock has yet to be broken.
Stormont council met on Tuesday to discuss organ donation legislation, but the recall session ended without a speaker being elected, continuing a year of parliamentary and executive paralysis.
Dicey Mac Govern, one of 130 people in Northern Ireland waiting to hear the organ, watched from the gallery with her parents.
Sinn Féin had called for a recall to elect a new speaker and force parliament to implement organ donation laws, known as Dicey's Act. It means everyone in Northern Ireland will be considered a potential organ donor after death unless they opt out.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) blocked the Speaker's nomination in protest of the Northern Ireland Protocol, as they had done in the previous five recalls. Under power sharing rules, Stormont cannot function without the participation of the DUP. Party leader Sir Geoffrey Donaldson had previously warned against the decision.
Social Democratic and Labor Party (SDLP) MP Colin McGrath said Mr Dighty and his west Belfast family had shown “superhuman” will in campaigning for legislation that would save their lives and the lives of others. “What in the name of humanity is stopping us?” he asked the chamber.
Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O'Neill said Parliament had a duty to legislate to save lives. “Failure to do so would be a dereliction of duty and disappointing to the families involved.”
Alliance Party leader Naomi Long urged the DUP to end the boycott as a matter of life and death. “Today is the right time and this chamber is the right place. We need to do the right thing now.”
People Before Profit MP Gerry Carroll said the DUP's stance was cruel. “We're talking about a six-year-old boy waiting for a new heart, and many others who depend on one. [a heart transplant]. People's lives matter more than protests against the DUP's protocols. ”
The DUP rejected the criticism as a threat, and Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said it could and should bypass Stormont and push for organ donation legislation at Westminster. DUP MLA and former Northern Ireland First Minister Paul Givan told parliament: “The Secretary of State has a responsibility to take this forward.” The party accused its critics of misguided anger.
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Mr Heaton-Harris said Westminster would be a slower and more complicated route.
Mac Gavan's family said in the House of Commons on February 22 that they wanted the bill to be added as an amendment to the Executive Organization Bill. If the Speaker accepts the amendment, it will need to go through the Commons, Lords and Commons again before receiving Royal Assent, a process that could take several months.
The DUP claims the protocol will damage Northern Ireland's economy and its standing in the UK. British officials say Downing Street and the EU could agree a deal to address these concerns by next week, but there are growing expectations that the DUP will reject the move as insufficient.
