Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses and thank them for appearing before us. Like Senator Ruane, I may also have to leave before the end of this meeting to deal with the legislation in the Seanad so I offer my apologies in advance. I will focus on the Medical Council's submission. Please do not think me rude if I interrupt as I need to probe certain issues and time is always very limited here. In her opening statement, Dr. Crowe said that it is important to point out that the council does not have a position on the topic, which I get, nor does the council presume to prescribe what the law should be. I also get that.

The fact remains that the Medical Council has removed from its guidelines a very significant and important statement, namely, that doctors must not take part in the deliberate killing of a patient. Dr. Crowe told us how it came about in the context of merging paragraphs but she did not explain where the move to do that came from or why it happened. Who asked the council to make that change and remove that particular paragraph?