Daithi's Law recall: 'Joke!' - MLAs heckled in Stormont chamber as session grinds to halt

"Joke!” shouted an unknown man at the MLAs as they gathered their belongings and stood to leave, just as today’s recall session ended.

Since the DUP boycott meant no new speaker could be elected (a pre-requisite for business to take place), after about an hour of statements from various parties the session was forced to conclude.

They had been summoned to discuss progress on Daithi’s Law, named after six-year-old Belfast boy Daithi MacGabhann, who was present with his parents Mairtin and Seph at the session in Parliament Buildings, Stormont.

Daithi has been waiting years for a heart transplant.

The new law would create an automatic presumption that people are organ donors, unless the explicitly opt out – a reversal of the way the things work now.

The bid to pass the regulations needed to implement the law at the Assembly was always set to fail due to a refusal by the DUP to drop its veto on the election of a speaker.

The DUP, which is blocking the power-sharing institutions in protest at Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol, has insisted the organ donation regulations can be passed at Westminster instead.

••• ‘GOVT INTERVENED ON ABORTION & GAY MARRIAGE...’ •••

During the sitting, former First Minister Paul Givan has pointed the finger at the UK government – and specifically NI Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris – over the fact Daithi’s Law is still not active.

Mr Givan noted that Westminster has already intervened to pass laws on “issues which were much more controversial” than this, such as gay marriage, abortion, and the Irish language.

He told the chamber: “The Secretary of State has a responsibility to take this forward.

"His approach to handling this issue is where he releases statements to the media, and then says different things in private to political parties and to those who are concerned about this.

"I know he has indicated that he would be supportive of this going through Westminster.

"But when he had the opportunity to include it within the legislation, he didn't include it.

"Then he says he will support MPs to bring forward an amendment to it.

"But then publicly says they believe this isn't within the scope of the bill to do so.”

Mr Givan concluded: “He can do this. He should do this.”

••• ‘130 PEOPLE ON DONOR WAIT LIST’ •••

At the outset of proceedings in the Assembly, UUP leader Doug Beattie proposed his party colleague Mike Nesbitt for speaker, while SDLP MLA Colin McGrath proposed his fellow party member Patsy McGlone.

Opening the subsequent debate, Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O’Neill said the recalled sitting was not about party politics.

“Today is about those of us here who are legislators fulfilling our duty and delivering through on the Organ and Tissue Donation Act 2022 – Daithi’s Law,” she said.

“Over 130 people are currently waiting for an organ, 90% of people in the north support organ donation, and every party in this chamber supports this law.

“So Mr Acting Speaker (Alan Chambers), there is little else to be said. The power is in the gift of each party and every single MLA to save lives by legislating in this place here today.

“Put simply, not to do so is a dereliction of duty, and it’s really disheartening for all those families involved.

“There is an onus on all of us here today to work together and most importantly to give hope to all those families who need us to get this done.”

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said it was an “emotional and difficult day” for people awaiting transplants.

“Young Daithi MacGabhann and his family are, of course, at the forefront of our minds – they have invested time, energy and passion in the campaign for this law – but there are others who we don’t know, who face the same anxious wait and need change delivered now,” she said.

“Those people who are waiting on life-saving transplant surgery, and their loved ones, are looking to us today to finish the work we started together in the last mandate, and offer them hope that a suitable organ can be found for transplantation.”

She implored the DUP to “do the right thing” and allow a speaker to be elected.

“That would open the door for this Assembly to pass the regulations and give people who are waiting for transplant surgery a better chance of survival – because for them, this is a life and death issue,” she said.

“I have heard both in the Chamber and on the airwaves that the DUP will not consent to the election of a speaker. I would appeal to them, even at this late stage, to reflect on what is at stake, and on the message it will send if we fail to elect a speaker, even in these circumstances.”

••• ‘ELECT SPEAKER AND HELP SAVE BOY’S LIFE’ •••

SDLP MLA Colin McGrath said the ongoing failure to elect a speaker was an “absolute embarrassment”.

“The business we are here to address today isn’t about political parties. It isn’t about me, it isn’t about the SDLP, it isn’t about Sinn Fein or the DUP or any of us. It is about the 134 families whose loved ones are watching us here today, waiting on an urgent organ transplant and who have placed their faith in us to be able to make that possible,” he said.

Mr McGrath said passing the regulations at Westminster was the “second-best option” as it would delay the implementation of the regulations.

“Everyone that is on that transplant list deserves so much more better than second-best option,” he said.

He added: “Why is there an urgency? Because up to 15 people die every year here, needlessly, on the organ donation list, because we have 134 people who are now today waiting for an organ transplant.

“For those people on the organ list that are waiting, every minute counts for them, and every day we delay this legislation does not help them with their odds of getting a proper organ match.”

Colin McGrath added that Daithi MacGabhann had taught MLAs a “valuable lesson in strength, in resilience, in superhuman-will to overcome obstacles previously thought impossible to scale. He and his family have campaigned tirelessly to get this legislation.

“All of this while at six years of age he has had to wait four years on a heart. Last year we saw politics at its best (when the Bill was initially approved). What will we see today?

“We have the power to act, we could elect a speaker, lay the necessary motion and finish the legislation and help save Daithi’s life and the other 133 people.

“Mr Acting Speaker, what in the name of humanity is stopping us?”

More from this reporter:

• Daithi's Law: 'Three-month wait needed to activate donor law even once it is on the books'

• Mervyn Gibson: Attitudes to Northern Ireland Protocol among Orange brethren are hardening

• Proposal to call God 'non-binary' or female: Northern Irish canon questions if Anglican church is choosing 'sinking sand over solid ground'