Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Professor Huxtable. I have time to ask a question of Mr. Kelly. There are two things in his paper that interest me. If I do not have time to address the second one in this round, I will come back to it. The paper refers to having to meet the medical criteria to avail of assisted dying in the case of it being regulated and that being set out, but it makes the point that persons who have certain mental health conditions, perhaps, would not be foreseen under particular frameworks. Within that, if there is both, where does that leave people who have a terminal illness and meet some sort of medical requirement, whether that be distance from death, the level of pain they are in or the diagnosis, but who, in addition, have suffered throughout their lifetime from some form of mental health illness, such as any sort of psychosis, schizophrenia or manic depression? When those two things meet, is there a risk of such a person's capacity and consent not being accepted because of the mental health issues on his or her record even though all the other criteria are met? How can one be balanced against the other? It could end up with a person who meets all the medical criteria being discriminated against based on the fact that he or she had some other conditions throughout his or her lifetime.