Ms Rachel Woods:

On the Deputy’s first question, the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act is quite clear that a person who “aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide of another” or the attempted suicide of another shall be guilty of an offence. Therefore, any actions that are taken in aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the suicide of another person are covered by that. I will qualify that by saying that as far as the Department is aware, there has only ever been one prosecution taken. We have consulted with the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, and the CSO to confirm that. We will let the committee know if that is not the position. Yet, as far as we know, there has only been one and no conviction was secured. The DPP has the discretion to take prosecutions. The Supreme Court alluded to that in its judgment as well. On the wording of the of the Act, the answer is "yes", that would be a criminal offence.