The controversy over organ retention has begun to affect organ donations for transplants, according to the Irish Kidney Association and the Mater Hospital in Dublin.
A spokeswoman for the Mater said donations appeared to be down and that the hospital had two patients waiting for hearts to become available for transplant. There had been no transplants at the Mater since November, she said.
Mr Mark Murphy, acting chief executive of the Irish Kidney Association said the number of transplants of various organs for 2000 was the same as, or higher than, in 1999.
But the 260 organs transplanted came from just 72 donors. What concerned him, he said, was that in 50 cases a request for organs was refused, usually by next of kin.
He said it was clear that the organ retention scandal was having an effect on attitudes to organ donation.
The public needed to be made aware that "taking organs for research and taking organs for transplant are worlds apart". Far more people could be helped if there were more donors, he said.
The Mater Hospital in Dublin is hoping to commence heart/ lung transplants later this year. A Mater spokeswoman said yesterday that the irony of the situation was that people who had received hearts at the hospital over the years would attend a celebratory Mass at the Mater this Saturday, at a time when donations of hearts have fallen.
Both she and Mr Murphy called for a major promotional campaign to encourage people to donate organs for transplant.
Last year 37 livers, 15 hearts, 127 kidneys (six combined with the pancreas), one pancreas, 56 corneas and 24 heart valves were transplanted, Mr Murphy said.
A seven-day-old Irish baby is in a "critical but stable" condition at King's College Hospital, London, where she is awaiting a liver transplant.
Maebh Bradley from Kells, Co Meath, is a daughter of Tommy and Marie Bradley who have already lost two children to the same rare condition.
A hospital spokeswoman said last night that donation of livers for transplant had been affected by the Alder Hey controversy, with the result that it had not been able to carry out transplants recently.
However, it performed a transplant on a patient yesterday and is hopeful that the situation is going to improve.
pomorain@irish-times.ie