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

This committee has come full circle with regard to this issue. Over Christmas I listened to a BBC podcast and one of the guests was Esther Rantzen. During the Christmas period she came out with regard to her support of assisted dying. She said something very profound which I probably should have thought about as someone who supports assisted dying. She said that most people are not afraid of dying but of how they die. That was a very important statement about assisted dying. This is a very complex issue but I believe we can overcome those complexities with regard to what we are trying to grapple with.

This committee has been given the task of setting a path for legislating for assisted dying or not. I believe we should legislate. Safeguards and all the concerns we all have can only be as good as the legislation we put forward. There is also the matter of those who are eligible for availing of assisted dying. Hopefully, our committee will support and recommend assisted dying. The vast majority of people in Ireland would not be able to avail of assisted dying under the recommendations that this committee will hopefully put forward. The matter of eligibility is very important. Who can avail of assisted dying, and in what circumstances? What are the timeframes, etc.? They are all very important matters, and it is up to this committee to thrash that out over the next three or four weeks.

I agree that palliative care in this country is very good. There are deficits, such as county-by-county access to palliative care. We should not conflate palliative care and assisted dying. In some ways, they can be almost complementary. I have said on numerous occasions that if somebody is in a set of circumstances where they will die, I believe it is their fundamental human right to have a say in how they die. They should be able to die on their own terms. I do not think that is radical. That is a very contemporary way of looking at a rights-based approach to somebody who wants to have a say in their healthcare. That is a very fundamental human right. Hopefully, my colleagues will believe that as well and will recommend legislative change.

I do not have any specific question. I will just say that some of the language used by the HSE in their opening statements has been a bit disappointing. I will be honest with them about that. The word “burden” has been negatively used by opponents of assisted dying in relation to this, and I do not think it is helpful. I think conflating the issue of suicide and assisted dying is very unhelpful.

As I said, we will have to grapple with this issue over the next three to four weeks, but I believe this can be done. Public opinion suggests and points to the fact that a majority of people support assisted dying under limited circumstances. I do not have any specific questions. Perhaps Dr. Ní Bhriain can speak about some of the language that she used, which I think is slightly disappointing.