THE NUMBER of organ donations in Ireland fell by 17 per cent in 2012, to levels below the usual annual average – with 78 people donating their organs upon death last year.

The Irish Kidney Association said the shortage was not down to a lack of willingness from the Irish public to donate an organ, but rather to management issues such as the absence of an organ donor registry.

Meanwhile, there is still no progress on longstanding calls to change the Irish system from ‘opt-in’ – where a person has to explicitly declare their desire to donate their organs after death – to ‘opt-out’ where the person, or their surviving relatives, must intervene to stop the process.

So, with that in mind, today we’re quite simply asking: Should Ireland move to an ‘opt out’ system for organ donation?

Poll Results:

Yes (2289)

No (2246)

I don't know (407)

Read: Organ donation fell 17 per cent last year – IKA

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