Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be concise. Professor Binchy said in his response to Deputy Gino Kenny that sin is not in his lexicon. I am wondering what it is, in Professor Binchy's words, when somebody who is incurable ends his or her life. I ask that in the framework that we are discussing. I also ask him not to try to undermine that by putting forward the idea that we have a view that is not logical, as he keeps saying. He can say that all he wants but it does not make it true. It is logical that one can create frameworks where one cohort of people can avail of something and another cannot. We do it in other areas of medicine. We do it when we decide who is even eligible for chemotherapy and how advanced in stages their condition is. Medical decisions are made every day that categorise groups. I am not denying that morally, philosophically and, at a human rights level, we can argue that it is discrimination, but we still make those distinctions in categories. It is logical to say that we would not have it in the case of Deputy Kenny's friend whose marriage broke down and would have it in the case of somebody who is incurably unwell. It undermines the suffering of those people at the end of their life to make such comparisons. When Professor Binchy says that sin is not in his lexicon, from the perspective of his moral judgment, what is it to end one's life regardless of situation?