Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for coming in. Reading between the lines of Dr. Ní Bhriain's statement, one might sum up page 1 by saying, "Don't do it", sum up page 2 by saying, "Please don't do it" and sum up page 3, as a lay reader, by saying, "Oh God, please don't do it." The clear subtext of this paper is to point to the many concerns we, as members of the committee, have heard about week after week, including the risk of people feeling a burden, the impact on healthcare workers about which we have been speaking, and the potential interconnection with suicidality where people have a cancer diagnosis, which is something Dr. Ní Bhriain has highlighted as something we need to consider in the context of other conditions. Patient safety and safeguarding measures are also referred to. I must ask questions for Dr. Ní Bhriain's professional judgment. If the committee were to decide to recommend a change in the law and the introduction of assisted suicide or euthanasia in certain cases, and if the Oireachtas persisted with that intent, is it Dr. Ní Bhriain's professional view that safeguards could definitely prevent all the unhappy outcomes she is warning us about in this paper?