Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have two things. First, is it not reasonable that an individual, in anticipating their death and knowing they will have palliative care, would decide or want the option to decide that they would die while aware and that there would be a sense of being part of the saying goodbye? That is where I would see, perhaps, an option or choice of assisted dying appearing within palliative care, while totally accepting we need to scale it up, preserve, ensure and all of that. Rather than going through the passage and the process of death, it is not an unreasonable proposition that someone would say that, when they arrive at this stage, they want to be conscious in their saying goodbye and that they want to do that with their family. I would see that as being a point.

Surprisingly, I find myself referring to Deputy Healy-Rae's point on relativism. It is this idea, which, very early on, was shown to me or discussed with me, where in the various stages of dying, such as embracing illness and diagnosis, what we perceive may be influenced by a myriad of things. Were I to receive a catastrophic diagnosis now, I am sure I would want to be there for my daughter's growing up as much as possible. One is influenced by that.

I would like Dr. Molloy to comment on those two things. Just to reiterate, I think her latter point was very wise.