The father of a boy who needs a heart transplant has expressed his disappointment at the Democratic Unionist Party's (DUP) announcement that it will block Tuesday's election for Speaker of Parliament.
Lawmakers were due to meet to pass a new law on organ donation.
DUP leader Sir Geoffrey Donaldson confirmed the party's move in a letter to members at the weekend.
Mac Gavan, from Ditha, whose father Martin said the DUP's actions would result in an “opportunity” being missed.
The Northern Ireland Minister said the Bill's narrow scope made it unlikely the law would be changed at Westminster.
Chris Heaton-Harris renewed his call for all parties to reform the Northern Ireland Assembly, saying “the people of Northern Ireland expect and deserve fully functioning devolved institutions”.
“Threatening”
The DUP has said the legislation can be dealt with in Westminster but Mac Gavan said time is not on families' side.
“It will be Westminster but that's another few weeks of uncertainty and we don't really have weeks to spare,” he told BBC News NI's Talkback programme.
“We keep hearing could, could, probably, but at this stage we need more than that, we need guarantees,” Mr Mac Gavan said in discussions with political parties as the political deadlock continues.
In the letter on Saturday, first reported by the PA news agency, Sir Geoffrey accused others of using the law to “blackmail” the party into returning to powersharing.
Image source, Brian Lawless/PA Media
“We are not planning to appoint a Speaker on Tuesday,” Sir Geoffrey wrote. “Westminster is sovereign and this issue can be resolved swiftly.”
The DUP leader also accused Sinn Fein of showing “misguided indignation” over the issue.
“Given that Sinn Féin is politicking on this, let's see if they can win a seat at Westminster and help get this bill through the House of Commons. We won't get our hopes up.”
A Sinn Féin motion to convene Parliament was supported by the Alliance Party and the People's Interest First Party.
If a speaker is not elected, the organ donation bill will not be passed on Tuesday.
Responding to the DUP's decision not to appoint a speaker, Sinn Féin's Pat Sheehan said it was “disappointing. The people who will be most disappointed will be the families who depend on these regulations being passed.”
He told Good Morning Ulster that if Parliament is unable to bring the bill forward it would “create uncertainty about the process at Westminster”.
First, Jeffrey [Donaldson] The amendment cannot even be tabled until next week, and the chairman [at Westminster] “We would accept the amendment,” he said.
Social Democrat and Labour MP Colin McGrath said the bill would help people on the organ donor list in Northern Ireland, adding that if a speaker was not appointed “some of them may not be selected”.
Unionist MSP Paula Bradshaw said the DUP “needed to stop playing with people's lives”, while Ulster Unionist MSP Mike Nesbitt told The Nolan Shaw that Tuesday's session could descend into a “blame game”.
Jim Allister, leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice, also said on the programme that the decision to pass the bill should be left to Westminster.
The DUP has repeatedly blocked the election of a Stormont leader as part of its protests against the Northern Ireland Protocol, post-Brexit trade rules which introduced new checks on the movement of goods between Britain and Northern Ireland.
Without a Speaker, Parliament cannot conduct business or pass new laws.
The Organs and Consent Bill (also known as the Dyce Bill) means that all adults in Northern Ireland will be considered potential organ donors after death, unless they specifically indicate otherwise.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that does not have an 'opt-out' organ donation system.
But additional legislation would be needed to specify which organs and tissues would be subject to the opt-out system, and that would require lawmakers to take the floor.
