A MAJOR change to organ donation laws in the North of Ireland will pass its final hurdle at Stormont later on Tuesday.
Assembly members will debate the last stage of a bill that will mean people automatically become organ donors unless they specifically opt out.
The North of Ireland will be the last part of the UK to bring in an opt-out system.
There were concerns the bill could be jeopardised due to the collapse of the Stormont Executive.
But as the assembly remains in place to pass legislation, the bill’s final reading can take place as scheduled.
It has been a long-awaited move at Stormont and the bill will need to receive royal assent before it can come into force.
Until June 2021, the DUP had blocked attempts to change the law.
Following talks between then-First Minister Paul Givan, Health Minister Robin Swann – who proposed the legislation – and campaigners, Mr Givan announced he had given approval for the legislation to proceed to the assembly.
Mr Swann said about 180 lives could be “changed” each year by overhauling the rules.
Currently donation only proceeds in the North of Ireland if a person has given their express consent, usually by signing on to the NHS Organ Donor Register or by speaking to their family.
In the absence of that, the family is asked to decide on behalf of the patient.
Some of the most senior clinicians here had in the past warned that the North of Ireland was not ready for such a system.
