According to legal advice discussed at the Summer Senior Clinicians' Meeting, organ transplant activities should not proceed if the opt-out register (OOR) is inaccessible.
Legal advice was discussed in June by the National Organ Donation and Transplant Advisory Group (NODTAG). A spokesman for the HSE said the advice is in his current position. However, they also said that independent legal opinions are required.
Under the Human Organization Act of 2024, which has not yet begun, adults are deemed to agree to post-mortem organ donation unless they have registered to opt-out. Families will continue to consult with individuals in situations where they have not opted out, and in the event of objections the donation will not progress.
In June, NODTAG heard that OOR's “engineering and architecture” had “good enough.” According to meeting minutes, “We have a significant focus on downtime contingencies and disaster recovery. The legal advice regarding the law is that if you don't have access to the register, porting activities will not proceed.”
HSE organ donations and transplants Ireland follow up on keen manipulation on “additional advice.” [the] Registration is not available,” the minutes stated.
According to HSE, the Register is a custom-made product developed within its technology and transformation department. The development cost up to now is 300,000 euros. The register is currently in the “pre-aging stage.”
If asked about supplemental advice referenced at the NODTAG meeting and there is a request available to staff if they are unable to access the register, the spokesman said: “Independent legal opinions are required. [The] The focus is to ensure that you have access to the register at all times. ”
They also commented: A business continuity plan is in place to provide access to registers in the rare occurrence of OOR unavailable due to networking and other technical issues. ”
Meanwhile, the HSE confirmed that new funding of 2 million euros was provided in the budget in 2025 for organ donation and transplant services.
