John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Okay. Truce.

I have a couple of questions. Senator Mullen has said something I am not sure about. I will have to reflect on it. He said that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem, and that suicide and assisted suicide are part of the same conversation. Yet, the evidence we have heard is that, in some cases, assisted suicide is a permanent solution to a permanent problem, and not a temporary problem. I argue that people need to be careful about saying suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Some of the evidence we have heard here is that these are life-limiting illnesses and are therefore permanent. This is permanent, it is not going to end and it is not going to go away. That is one very significant difference in how the two have been defined.