The plight of a six-year-old boy who needs a heart transplant has taken centre stage in Northern Ireland’s political deadlock but has failed to break the impasse.
The Stormont assembly met on Tuesday to debate an organ donation law but the recall session ended without the election of a speaker, perpetuating a year-long paralysis of the assembly and executive.
Dáithí Mac Gabhann, who is one of 130 people in Northern Ireland awaiting an organ, watched the proceedings from the gallery with his parents.
Sinn Féin had requested the recall to try to elect a new speaker and let the chamber implement an organ donation law known as Dáithí’s law. It would mean everyone in Northern Ireland would be considered a potential organ donor after death unless they opted out.
The Democratic Unionist party (DUP) blocked the nomination of a speaker in a protest against the Northern Ireland protocol, as it has done during five previous recalls. Under power-sharing rules Stormont cannot function without DUP participation. The party leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, had flagged the decision in advance.
Colin McGrath, a Social Democratic and Labour party (SDLP) assembly member, said Dáithí and his west Belfast family had shown “superhuman” will in campaigning for legislation that could save his life and that of others. “What in the name of humanity is stopping us?” he asked the chamber.
Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Féin’s deputy leader, said the chamber had a duty to legislate to save lives. “Not to do so is a dereliction of duty, and it’s disheartening for those families involved.”
Naomi Long, the Alliance party leader, urged the DUP to lift its boycott for a life and death issue. “Today is the right time, this chamber is the right place, now we need to do the right thing.”
Gerry Carroll, a People Before Profit assembly member, said the DUP’s stance was cruel. “We’re talking about a six-year-old boy who is waiting on a new heart, and the many others who depend on [a heart transplant]. People’s lives are more important than the DUP’s protocol protest.”
The DUP rejected the criticism as blackmail and said the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, could, and should, bypass Stormont and push the organ donation law through Westminster. Paul Givan, a DUP MLA and former first minister of Northern Ireland, told the assembly: “The secretary of state has a responsibility to take this forward.” The party accused its critics of false outrage.
Heaton-Harris has said Westminster would be a slower, more complicated, route.
The Mac Gabhann family said they hoped the legislation would be added as an amendment to the executive formation bill, in the Commons on 22 February. If the speaker accepts the amendment it will need to pass through the Commons, the Lords and the Commons again before receiving royal assent, a process that could take several months.
The DUP says the protocol damages Northern Ireland’s economy and its place in the UK. Downing Street and the EU may agree on a deal to try to address those concerns by next week, according to UK sources, but there is widespread expectation the DUP will reject the move as insufficient.
