Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank our witnesses. The key thing here is the requirement that the patient is in insufferable pain, the experience of suffering and how that is determined. One person's insufferable pain may not necessarily be the same as another's. I think everyone is agreed that it is inherently subjective. Dr. McKeown O'Donovan talked about autonomy and the ability to decide what to do with one's own life, when and how. If a person takes his or her own life through suicide, perhaps because he or she in insufferable pain and huge distress, he or she is acting autonomously. It is not something that we support. In fact, we have introduced measures to reduce suicide rates. We took a decision, and rightly so, to decriminalise the action of suicide back in the 1990s. A previous contributor to our debates here said that rather than legalise assisted dying or euthanasia, perhaps we should decriminalise it. I would be interested to hear Dr. McKeown O'Donovan's views on that.

She talked about the very limited criteria. In response to a question from a colleague she mentioned the criteria of terminal illness and imminent death, and said that is the way to avoid a slippery slope. There is evidence in countries where assisted dying has been introduced that even where there are really strict criteria initially, the criteria have been expanded over time. My fear is that if we introduce it with very limited criteria, people could actually make the case that they are discriminated against if they are excluded. One could foresee a case being taken before the European Court of Human Rights on the ground that we are introducing legislation that prioritises one person's suffering over another's. This morning on "Morning Ireland" we heard the CEO of ALONE talking about the pandemic of loneliness in Ireland. A person suffering from loneliness could describe living on his or her own as insufferable. I am concerned that if we were to introduce legislation along these lines, we would be normalising assisted dying and euthanasia. That could then be used as a mechanism to address the failings of the State, whether in tackling loneliness or abject poverty. I would welcome Dr. McKeown O'Donovan's views on that.

Finally, I believe Dr. Yuill stated that he could envisage assisted dying as being permissible to reduce suffering at the end of life. That already happens. Medics take the decision to administer morphine to a patient who is terminally ill. We all know, from inquiring about terminally ill patients, that medics will say that the morphine pump has been switched on. That is a clear sign that the end is near. The medics are administering medicine that will reduce pain and maybe hasten the end of life, but they are not intentionally taking the life away. That is palliative care as we know it.