Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I thank all the witnesses for being here with us today. As Deputy Gino Kenny said, we are halfway through our deliberations on a really complicated topic, so we really appreciate the witnesses' expertise and time today. My time is limited. I only have seven minutes, which is to include the witnesses' answers. This is the same as everyone else.

I will put my initial questions to Dr. Duckworth and End of Life Ireland. I find it completely fascinating that Dr. Duckworth has come full circle on this. He was someone who actively campaigned in one direction and now he is advocating in an entirely different way. He explained the rationale for that, which was from sitting on the committee and hearing the testimony, but could he summarise, in the space of a minute or two, what he heard that had such a profound effect on him and changed his mind? That is what we on this committee are most interested in; people who have changed their minds and where that came from, whether it was in one direction or another. It is really important that all of us in this committee approach this with as open a mind as possible.

End of Life Ireland raised the issue of dementia. Before I sat on this committee, I had thought that would have been a condition that we would be spending quite a great deal of time talking about. However, we have not done do. That is because the subject has proven to be extremely complicated to broach. Instead, for the most part, we have spoken about regimes that deal with people who have six months or less to live and who have the autonomy to make their own decisions. We are therefore looking at time-limited, rather than life-limited, conditions, and people who have autonomy.

Mr. McKenna spoke a little about the power of attorney legislation. We have done a huge amount on this. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters, so I am very familiar with the issues of power of attorney and assisted decision-making capacity. Do the representatives think our legislation around this is fit for purpose in the context of this whole new debate of assisted dying?