Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Okay. I will ask Professor Boer a question. He shared with us some stark statistics on the upward trajectory in the numbers of people who avail of assisted suicide in his country. It was interesting to hear his personal views and perspective on this and how they have changed over time based on real-life experience and the evolution of assisted suicide in his country. My question is on the Belgian model, which provides that there be a request from the patient who must be suffering from a serious or incurable disorder caused by illness or accident and, therefore, must have a medically hopeless condition and, third, that because of this condition, the patient experiences constant and unbearable physical or mental suffering that cannot be alleviated. Those three caveats or criteria are in place in Belgium, along with the conscientious objection from a doctor's perspective. Does Professor Boer think this would be a more appropriate regime than the one in place in the Netherlands?