Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach and welcome everyone to today's meeting. We are at the halfway point with this joint committee. It has been very interesting thus far, regardless of what one's position is on this. As Ms Lazar said, Ireland has come a long way in the last 25 years on many issues and one of the issues it has to grapple with is assisted dying. All the indications show we are ready for the debate and that the public would be generally in support of assisted dying if it was legislated for. We are the legislators and that is why we are in this committee today.

My first question is for Ms Lazar and Mr. McKenna. I commend Ms Lazar on all the work she has done over the last number of years. She is a giant with respect to this issue and I appreciate her work and that of End of Life Ireland. The question is a simple one. What are the obstacles to legislating for assisted dying in Ireland?