Mr. Dan Kelleher:

I thank the Senator for his question. As Ms Woods outlined, the legislation from 1993 was introduced to take away the offence of suicide itself. It is interesting that when one looks over Dáil debates from that time, the then Minister, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, acknowledged that she could not actually give an answer as to why suicide was an offence when she introduced the Act to eliminate it as an offence. She noted that the common law offence of suicide was perhaps from a more brutal age going back over hundreds of years, where even the burial arrangements of people who committed suicide were open to question. Her view was that there was no justification for a criminal offence of suicide or attempted suicide. She was clear that people who had suicidal ideation needed assistance, compassion, sympathy and medical help. Interestingly, she placed a lot of emphasis on the tragic situation of suicides in prisons, and the potential impact on suicide policy generally, which is a problem for society as a whole. I am simply intervening to say that was the context in which the Act was introduced in 1993.

However, the then Minister referred to the risk of what she called a dominant personality separate to the person considering suicide who may seek to induce a suicide for his or her own motives. She was clear that a depressed person who had suicidal tendencies and who could be in what she referred to as a moment of despair could be easy prey for a manipulative person who had anything to gain. She was clear that, in her view, that was the need for the offence of assisted suicide. I am not sure if I have answered the Senator's question.