Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all who have given testimony this morning. Unfortunately, I had another committee meeting so I did not get to hear all the opening statements. However, I did have the opportunity to read them. When I came in, Ms Lazar was speaking about personal choice. I have a good friend, whom I met recently, and we discussed this. He is somebody who was very much against the repeal of the eighth amendment. While liberal in many other ways, he campaigned strongly because he felt that somebody else was making a choice for the embryo. However, his father only died relatively recently. He said having seen him suffer and what we went through, he felt that he would absolutely want to be able to make that personal choice if it was available and if it was not available in this country, he would possibly go somewhere else. The essence of it was that he still totally supported his view on repeal, which is that nobody has the right to take the life of a potential baby. At the same time, he said that if a person was in difficult circumstances, and under certain criteria, they should have the right to make that choice. He made that quite clear to me. He felt that I thought, because of his stance on repeal, that he would be against assisted dying.

I have a few questions. I found Dr. Duckworth's statement to be really inspirational. The work he does and the life he lives in such a positive way are quite incredible. There is also the fact that he changed his mind in such a strong way relative to his previous views. It is always important to discuss how somebody may change. This was based on the evidence he heard over a period of 12 months, looking at research and going to specific locations in four countries that offer assisted dying. He mentioned in his statement Mavis, Dennis, Frankie and Charlie and the differences in their situations. It is interesting to hear that coming from somebody who has had a severe disability in life, but who has managed to make life work in such an incredible and giving way, in terms of the work he does. I very much take on board what he is saying.

I appreciate Dr. Doherty is coming from a position where she is dealing with people with mental health issues and she has concerns about the autonomy regarding making decisions in relation to that. Outside of somebody with mental health issues making that decision - and I absolutely understand and share her concerns - are other situations where she thinks assisted dying could be in effect, for example, where somebody has a terminal illness and will die in six months, which we have discussed? Should there be the possibility of them availing of assisted dying to ensure they do not have continued horrific pain and, as Ms Lazar said, they can pass away surrounded by people they love? This would not be of their choosing because nobody wants to be in a situation where they would possibly pass away from a terminal illness. This is more a matter of being able to control the manner in which and how they die. If the witnesses could respond, I would appreciate it.