Stormont holds 'gift of life' with organ donor bill

Eleven people died on the organ waiting list last year

Opt-out organ donation campaigners have said they would be "severely disappointed" if Stormont collapsed before long-awaited laws on the issue are passed.

A bill is due to go before MLAs on Monday.

Under the proposal, people would automatically become donors unless they specifically said otherwise.

But the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has threatened to quit Stormont over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Fearghal McKinney, from the British Heart Foundation, told BBC NI's Sunday Politics programme that campaigners would get back up to fight for the legislation if power sharing were to dissolve before it could pass.

"The gift of life is in the hands of our politicians right now," he said.

Fearghal McKinney is a former SDLP MLA

"We would be severely disappointed [if Stormont collapsed] but there's nothing we can do about the political swirls that may steer this ship on to other rocks.

"But what we can do is we can reflect on the extent to which there is outspoken political support across the board for this, we can reflect on the extent of campaigning."

Eleven people on the transplant list died in 2020, according to Organ Donation Northern Ireland.

About 115 people are currently on the transplant waiting list.

The decision to allow a so-called soft opt-out organ donation system to be discussed in Stormont was announced by First Minister Paul Givan in June, after talks with Health Minister Robin Swann.