John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the witnesses for their contributions, which are very helpful and significant. I am interested in what Mr. Luley was saying about the Swiss way of doing things and the Swiss mentality. Historically, the Irish mentality has been slightly different. There is a uniqueness and an individualist approach to things in the Swiss model, which says, "If you want to do it that's fine, just don't make it my business". In Ireland, the State has traditionally gotten very involved in people's decision-making.

There was a very interesting article in The Sunday Timestwo or three weeks ago about the presenter of "Newsnight", Mr. Evan Davis. I would ask the committee secretariat to trace it and include it in our reading material. It concerned his elderly parents and relates to the United Kingdom, not the Republic of Ireland. He spoke about the end of life of both of his parents. His mother died first and this had a devastating impact on his father, although I may have gotten the order wrong there. His father ended his own life but what struck me was the manner in which it was done. The article could not specify how he had taken his own life but it was implied that he had mailed off for some assistance and had received it. That could not be published. That is the first point. The second point is that a note was left on the door. The cleaner was coming to the house and was told not to enter. Details were left of who to contact and so on. What really struck me about the evidence given this morning is that in the Swiss model, that man could have been accompanied on that journey by his family, as opposed to all of these notes. It came as no surprise, according to his son. It was expected and he was happy that his father had made this decision but I imagine that the circumstances of it could have been very different. I would be obliged if the committee secretariat could find that article and include it in the committee's reading material.

Another issue I was very struck by was the role of palliative care. In the evidence we have received to date and the papers we have been sent, and I hope I am not misrepresenting them, palliative care providers in Ireland seemed to have adopted a very strident view against assisted suicide. The witnesses appear to be outlining a situation where palliative care has a role to play and embraces that role. That is one of the messages I am taking away from today. I do not have questions but am happy if they want to respond to what I have said. I just wanted to feed that back.

I note the theological connections of Professor Boer and I believe religion is important. I said at one of our first meetings that the great and the small religions attempt to answer the big questions in life like where we came from, why we are here and what happens when we die. The perspective of religion is important. It does not have to be exclusive but it is an important perspective and we should not shy away from hearing it.