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

I thank all the witnesses for being here. This is an extremely complex topic and debate. It is always good to hear from people who are so invested in this area.

I have a question for each witness. I will start with Mr. Copson who spoke about Australian research showing the palliative care sector had been further advanced in areas where assisted dying is available. I ask him to quantify that for us and explain how it got to the point where the palliative care sector has been advanced in tandem with legislation. I think he was citing international examples and not only the case of Australia.

Professor Binchy's testimony has been that the ending of life in all cases is wrong. He spoke of the impact suicide in particular has on family, friends, schools and communities. Mr. Riley approached the issue through a slightly different lens focusing on the more nuanced topic of assisted dying. He spoke about the impact the prolonged pain and suffering of a loved one has on their family, friends and community. I am interested in hearing his perspective on this and how we balance those two ripple effects from an ethical perspective when someone wants to die due to intolerable pain and suffering.

Mr. Riley made a big statement that doing nothing is the most extreme policy position and potentially quite a dangerous one for us to adopt as a committee. I argue that implementing assisted dying without adequate safeguards would be a much more extreme and potentially dangerous position. We are talking about autonomy and there are circumstances in which people's autonomy can potentially be manipulated. Will Mr. Riley talk to us about the position Dignity and Dying takes on safeguards?

In summation, I wish to hear from Mr. Copson on palliative care, Professor Binchy on the balance and Mr. Riley on safeguards.