Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming before us today. People who have come to the committee, such as disability advocates, have told us we should be focusing on enabling them to live a better life now as opposed to helping them end their lives due to the perceived lack of supports or the perception that they are a burden on family or wider society. I would ask those present as representatives of the HSE and the Department of Health how we can ensure we are supporting people to live life fully, whether it is in respect of disability services or older persons.

For example, I was contacted by a constituent last night whose mother resides in Meath.

She is being discharged from hospital and cannot get access to home help hours. Many of my constituents are finding it challenging to get access to home help hours. These are critical services to ensure people can live a high quality of life in their later years. We are talking about bringing in a system and offering people an opportunity for assisted dying and one of the concerns that has been raised, not only today but by many contributors over the long list of public sessions, is the perception that one is a burden on somebody else. How can the HSE ensure the level of supports, be it in palliative care, be it help to the elderly in terms of home help hours or be it from a disability perspective, that regardless of where one resides in this country one is getting the level of care that one needs to live a full life?