Call it what you will, but Seanad showdown may help save lives
Debate on the issue of organ donation has continued for two weeks in the media. But this has been regularly peppered with rows over the recall of the Seanad for a day.
Yesterday’s close vote of 23 against and 22 to annul an EU directive on organ donation will be seen as a victory by the opposition. Fianna Fáil forced the Government senators to break off their holidays and to raise debate on a worthy issue.
Nonetheless, what was the point of it all? Even if Fianna Fáil won the vote, no change could occur without a vote in the Dáil, which the party failed to get enough support to recall.
Confusion surrounded yesterday’s debate. Government senators said it was about the EU directive and did not have to do with resources for organ donations. Dozens of private members motions, adjournments, and Seanad debates since the directive was passed into law late last summer were also not used by Fianna Fáil to annul the legislation, senators argued.
Fianna Fáil and some Independent senators said hundreds were awaiting organ transplants; that coordinators were needed in hospitals; and that one national authority should oversee the process, such as is the case in Spain and Croatia where the numbers of successful transplants have increased.
But Maurice Cummins, the leader of the government senators, told the house the recall had been a “political stunt” and that Fianna Fáil had ignored opportunities during 110 sitting days to raise concerns since the EU directive was signed into law last August.
Fianna Fáil’s Seanad leader Darragh O’Brien summed up his colleagues’ position at the end of the four-hour debate saying “it wasn’t a stunt”, and had nothing to do with fighting for the retention of the Seanad ahead of October’s coalition-backed referendum to abolish it.
Important EU directives should not be ignored in future, he told a half-full chamber. Junior health minister Alex White though had already pointed out that it would be impossible to scrutinise every piece of EU legislation.
Furthermore, who necessarily wanted to debate or even follow a discussion on EU directives about the Small Hive Beetle and the Tropilaelaps Mite or wild birds in the Horn to Farren Head areas — two other documents laid before the house yesterday.
Disagree with it or not, the recall will go down as a triumph for Mark Daly, the Kerry senator who secured the 20 signatures needed for the move.
The Fianna Fáil politician was nominated for his Seanad seat by the Irish Kidney Association. Now, the issue of organ transplants and resources for them have received much attention, thanks to his actions.
His party might have been all the happier if it had secured just one more vote. Alas, this was unattainable as Fianna Fáil’s Seanad health spokesman, Marc MacSharry, flew out to Portugal yesterday on a prearranged trip.
The Sligo man was one of the 20 senators who signed the petition demanding the emergency sitting. Such is the difficult balancing act of being a politician.
In the end, it was the deciding single vote of the Government nominated Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Paddy Burke, that gave the Coalition its win.
The summer showdown may be remembered as nothing more than a symbolic victory for Fianna Fáil. But if just one more organ donor card is filled in following the discussion and this improves the life of even one of the 650 people awaiting organ transplants, then it was worth it.
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