Mr. Tom Curran:

I agree with Mr. Wall that we hear a lot from specific people in palliative care here in Ireland. They make much noise and give the impression that they are speaking for the rest of palliative care, but I have been dealing with this situation for a long time and campaigning for it. I have come across palliative care people in Ireland who are very supportive of this. To come back to the Senator's understanding that they do not support it, maybe it is a misunderstanding, because if we move outside Ireland, the two work hand-in-hand in other countries. Palliative care is involved in end of life choice. There is a conflict there as far as Ireland is concerned. I do not agree that all palliative care people in Ireland are against it. I stress that I personally think that palliative care is one of the best branches of medicine in the world. In fact, I support palliative care. I was on the palliative care research board here in Ireland for many years and it is one of the best situations that people can have but, again, palliative care cannot cure all ills.