Dr. Tom Hickey:

I thank the Deputy. I may have been misinterpreted. What I said at the outset was that the Members of the Oireachtas, as a body of legislators, may form a view that they want to stick with what they have, which is a blanket ban, because after hearing all the evidence, they are not sure. Forget about the Constitution. They may decide that, for moral reasons, they want to protect life. They may make such a decision that on the basis of Article 40.3.2°, they have a constitutional obligation to guard and vindicate life. That may be how they want to call it and that would be perfectly constitutionally permissible. I did not have a third option. I said that if the Members of the Oireachtas want to loosen the blanket ban and allow assisted death in certain circumstances, they could do that. In other words, they have latitude. It bears emphasis that when I say the Members of the Oireachtas have latitude, that does not mean they can do what they want. There is a constitutional obligation to vindicate life.