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

I thank the Chair. I also thank our esteemed witnesses for being with us today. As a committee, we have a very difficult job to do in a very short timeframe, so it is great to have their expertise to lean on.

I will start by saying that Professor Yuill and Dr. Finegan, to summarise their statements, have effectively taken issue with the idea of death as a medical treatment. Dr. Finegan said there is no stable middle ground here.

Dr. McKeown's testimony offered the counter perspective to both of those. My interpretation of her testimony is that medical treatment is about minimising harm and respecting the wishes of the patient and that strict and considered safeguards are a middle ground and could be done in a way that there is no slippery slope. Will Dr. McKeown O' Donovan tease that out a bit more for us given that she has now heard what Dr. Finegan and Professor Yuill have had to say with regard to those two specific points?