DESPITE a high-profile campaign after All-Ireland champion Joe Brolly's gift of a kidney to a clubmate, more than a third of people don't know what the organ donation register is.
The Public Health Agency today reveals startling findings from its public attitudes research on organ donation and transplantation.
It was carried out ahead of an information campaign commissioned in April by health minister Edwin Poots to encourage people to sign the register and tell loved ones their wishes.
Agency chief executive Eddie Rooney, who is chairman of the Northern Ireland Committee for Organ Donation, said that despite "many advances and awareness-raising activities" in recent years, still only 31 per cent of people are on the register.
Mr Brolly, a barrister, donated his kidney to friend and GAA club mate Shane Finnegan last October but nine days later it was removed after medical complications.
After Mr Brolly's lobbying, Mr Poots, supported by First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, revealed plans to introduce a presumed consent system in Northern Ireland.
The new system, which would involved organs being automatically donated after death unless the person has stated otherwise, was planned to be in place by August 2014 following public consultation.
Almost 200 people are waiting for transplants in the north.
"Sadly the chance will come too late for many," Dr Rooney said.
Support for the concept of organ donation stand at 84 per cent, with "the majority of respondents" saying they would take an organ if they needed one.
However, knowledge of organ donation and registration is low, with more than a third of those surveyed "not aware of" the register.
For more information contact www.organdonation.nhs.uk or call the NHS Donor line on 0300 123 2323.