Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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Apologies have been received from Senator Annie Hoey.

Parliamentary privilege is considered to apply to the utterances of members participating online in a committee meeting when their participation is from within the parliamentary precincts. There can be no assurances in relation to participation online from outside the parliamentary precincts and members should be mindful of this when contributing. This committee discusses dying, including suicide. Support information can be found on the committee's webpage.

Our agenda item today is engagement on the topic of protecting autonomy and assessing decision-making capacity. On my behalf and that of the members, I warmly welcome Dr. Caroline Dalton, a member of the healthcare ethics and end-of-life care research cluster in UCC and director of undergraduate nursing and midwifery education at UCC; Dr. Stephen Duckworth, academic, businessperson and social entrepreneur; Dr. Anne Doherty, associate professor at UCD school of medicine, and a consultant liaison psychiatrist; and Ms Janie Lazar and Mr. Justin McKenna from End of Life Ireland. We are grateful to them for appearing before us today and giving of their time.

On the subject of time and because I do not want any more witnesses to think I am being rude, I am letting people know that we are constrained by time. Each witness has their opening slot, after which the members will ask questions. Each member has seven minutes between their questions and answers. The red clock is everywhere. When people see the time coming down, I would appreciate if they could help me. Otherwise we will run over time.

I invite Dr. Dalton to deliver her opening statement.