THE story of West Belfast boy Dáithí Mac Gabhann will be heard at a special event later this month.
As part of this year’s Imagine! Belfast Festival, Dáithí’s dad, campaigner Máirtín Mac Gabhann will sit down in conversation with BBC journalist Jayne McCormack for a special event titled 'A Father’s Heart: The Story Behind Dáithí’s Law.' It will take place at Oh Yeah Music Centre in Gordon Street on Tuesday, March 24 from 7-8.30pm.
After more than seven years on the waiting list for the gift of a heart transplant, Dáithí Mac Gabhann was recently moved to the urgent transplant waiting list, and this has brought a renewed focus to the Donate4Dáithí campaign with Dáithí again capturing the hearts of people the community in Belfast and beyond.
The evening will tell the story behind one of the most significant public campaigns in recent years. In May 2023, the North’s organ donation system changed with the introduction of Dáithí’s Law, moving the region to a soft opt-out system of deemed consent. The legislation came after years of campaigning by Dáithí and his dad, Máirtín Mac Gabhann, through the Donate4Dáithí campaign.
Dáithí was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, a serious congenital heart condition, and has spent most of his life waiting for the gift of a heart transplant. What started as one family sharing their story soon grew into something much bigger. Communities got behind the campaign, political parties set aside their differences, and together helped change the law.
Speaking ahead of the event, Máirtín Mac Gabhann said: “We have always said that conversations about organ donation save lives. That has been the message from day one. The campaign might have started with our family, but it quickly became about everyone waiting on a transplant and every family who could one day face that phone call. A lot of people followed the campaign as it happened, but there is still so much to the story that people never saw.”
During the event, Máirtín will talk about the journey from Dáithí’s diagnosis to the campaign that eventually reached Stormont and Westminster. It will look at how ordinary people got behind the message and helped turn a family’s fight into a campaign that changed the law.
The conversation will also highlight why organ donation awareness still matters today. There are still many people who are waiting for the gift of a transplant, and those conversations within families can make all the difference.
Tickets for 'A Father’s Heart: The Story Behind Dáithí’s Law' can be booked here.
