Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming before us. I have a sneaking suspicion that I am not alone in believing that everybody on this side of the Chamber has come to this committee with a great deal of concern, and perhaps even trepidation, as to what we are getting ourselves into and what many of us have volunteered for. I am no exception to that. The origins of this discussion are interesting. It flows quite nicely to talk about language in the context of the conversation that was had in this place in 1993, not only because of the gravity of the decision to decriminalise suicide, but also because of the knock-on impact it has had. The term "commit" in respect of suicide is stuck in our dictionary even to this day. It stems from custom, most likely religious custom, as opposed to any particular difficulty with the idea that somebody should have the right to make such a decision and for that right to be vindicated. On the basis that suicide is no longer illegal, what right do we, as able-bodied, relatively healthy individuals in this place, have to determine that another person cannot make that decision? If they are unable to do so unaided, we should recognise that and change the law established in the 1993 Act. To go back to language again, to have included that in the first place is a hangover from the past.

That is where I am coming from but intertwined with that are concerns such as those mentioned by others, particularly Senator Seery Kearney. I am greatly concerned about the unintended consequences and impact of regulation that might flow from any Bill this committee might recommend and that might be made into law leading to others taking advantage of vulnerable persons who may not have capacity. I have great concern about that, not to mention some of the scenarios I can think of and that we have read about in which individuals with limited capacity who have no suicidal ideation are taken advantage of by other individuals, primarily within the family. The right to life is profound and this committee has a great deal of work to do to square the circle and make a determination as to whether any proposal adheres to the request the Dáil made in its deliberative process back in 2020 - I may be corrected on that as I cannot remember exactly when it was, although it was a couple of years ago - in which it made a very clear determination that this is a matter for which it wanted to legislate, leading to a Joint Committee on Justice report - a committee I now serve on although I did not at the time - and both Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann deciding to establish this committee, which I welcome. Within all of that, and notwithstanding Ms Woods's point about regulation or legislation being robust and that a framework can be created, I remain deeply concerned about what we are to do in light of the human condition and the fact that there are individuals out there who may wish to manipulate the goodwill of the majority of Members of the Houses should we wish to legislate.

I do not really have a question at this point because the vast majority of questions I had have been covered. However, I will take this opportunity to welcome this first meeting of the committee and to note, for my own peace of mind and for that of those listeners and others who are interested in this particular subject, that, like all other members, we have been grappling with this issue for some time. To put the legislative process in context, we are talking about an Act from 1993 and the conversation has included a court case from a decade ago. I hope Deputy Gino Kenny will correct me if I am wrong, but the Dying with Dignity Bill was published in 2018.