Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in and sharing their expertise. Dr. Dalton talked about how capacity is assessed. I run the risk perhaps of ignoring her warning about how it is not just linked to assessing capacity, but I want to dig a bit into how capacity is assessed. We now have the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act, which has changed things quite a bit. I want to explore whether from her experience Dr. Dalton has concerns about how capacity is assessed in general at the moment and how we can improve that. I know she refers in her submission to the environmental factors and societal factors. I am thinking about how we assess that, because if that is something that impacts on someone's ability to make a decision, how do we assess it when the person making the decision may not be aware of those issues? If it is an outside expert assessing that, how does he or she assess that? Do we run the risk of something objective there? Could Dr. Dalton talk through some of that a bit more?

I also want to follow up on some of Dr. Doherty's points. At the end of her submission she states: "It would be a travesty if assisted dying became a substitute for assistance in living." That is something I agree with, but I am of the opinion that surely we can do both. Her take on whether we can do both would be very welcome. I am conscious that at our very first meeting, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission voiced similar concerns about the coercive influence of an ableist mindset.

Dr. Doherty also talks about how the research did not show a decrease in suicide but showed an increase in suicide among older women. Was the research suggesting a causal link between the introduction of assisted dying and the increase in suicide? If the increase in suicide among older women was due to a treatable mental illness, is the issue that the illness was not being treated? Was the lack of treatment a direct result of the introduction of assisted dying? Again, surely we can do both.

Dr. Duckworth mentions a study from 2021. Would it be possible to provide it to the clerk of the committee so that it could be circulated to the members?