Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We all recognise the deficiencies in some areas of palliative care and general case.

We should never have circumstances where someone wants to avail of assisted dying because of not being able to get that care. That can never happen. However, even in a society where all those provisions can be put in place, it is a fundamental right that people who are coming to the end of their lives have a say in how they die. That is the fundamental issue in assisted dying. It is their life at the end of the day. We should not maintain the paternalistic approach we have had in the past which has failed. We need a rights-based approach and a patient-based approach so that people can avail of assisted dying. What kind of a society or hierarchy says people cannot do so, that they have to suffer? What kind of society do we live in? I know Professor O'Neill does not agree, but they are the parameters we have to look at.