Dr. Feargal Twomey:

I am minded to use Professor Richard Huxtable's evidence to the committee some months ago. The safeguard the Deputy mentioned of conscientious objection is one of the concerns Dr. Ní Bhriain mentioned earlier on protecting healthcare workers. Professor Huxtable recommended ensuring eligibility and other inclusion criteria are clear. That is a safeguard, being clear about who this is for and who will be eligible to apply for it. He mentioned palliative care which was discussed already and conscientious objection which the Deputy already raised, but one of the key things that it is important the committee consider is that if there are to be safeguards, how they will be monitored and how will data be collected to ensure boundaries are enforced?

To go back to what Dr. Ní Bhriain said in her opening statement, the exact details of what safeguards might look like would come at what the Deputy called the pre-legislative scrutiny, PLS, stage. If I may, I will segue into one of the other questions around healthcare, the options before the committee are not to legislate at all, as I mentioned earlier, or to have it within or outside healthcare.

Again, there are different models that members have heard about from around the world that will guide them. It is often that a safeguard has to be as restrictive as possible in something that is as important as this, but, again, that is a decision that, unfortunately, the ladies and gentlemen of the committee and others are responsible for taking.