The European Commission proposed a new EU-wide donor card yesterday to increase the availability of donated organs throughout Europe.
The card, indicating a willingness to donate an organ after death, is the centrepiece of a new European plan to increase donations and transplants. Eight out of 10 Europeans support the use of organ donor cards, however just 12 per cent actually carry a card, leading to shortages of donated organs.
Ireland is one of the countries with the highest take-up of donor cards, with 29 per cent of people carrying a card.
This places Ireland behind only the Netherlands (44 per cent) and Sweden (30 per cent), while in most new member states donor cards are rare.