Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Luley's citation of the European Court of Human Rights is problematic for the reason I have just said. The other thing is that he suggests that nonconsensual ending of life is what goes for the definition of killing but actually that goes for the definition of murder and manslaughter. I would have to put it to him that to some degree, by rejecting the use of the term "killing" even when objectively used, there is an element of sanitising of euthanasia and assisted dying in his language. As I said, killing does not actually require non-consent.

When Mr. Luley says that Dignitas is out to break the taboo surrounding suicide, many people will be concerned that there does not seem to be an awareness of the contagion effect around suicide. A lot of energy is being spent on preventing suicide generally in society, to which Mr. Luley does not seem to speak, either in his words here today or in his submission. In fact, where he talks about suicide, he talks about legislation such as that pertaining in Switzerland to prevent more violent suicides. Whatever about that, a study in Cancer Medicinein 2023 which looked at cancer deaths over a 20-year period in Switzerland found that assisted suicides of people with cancer doubled every five years but the key point was that unassisted suicides, where cancer was a factor, had changed little and as a percentage of unassisted suicides was remarkably stable. Would Mr. Luley accept that in the area of cancer in particular, there does not seem to be any preventive effect in regard to non-assisted suicides as a result of the law?