Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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My substantial question gets to the heart of this issue, which is complex. We talk about the constitutional nature of the judgment in Fleming v. Ireland, which was unequivocal. As legislators, we have the remit to legislate for assisted dying if we so wish. That is unequivocal. Hopefully, some day assisted dying will be legislated for in Ireland.

I wish to pose a question that was raised last week in respect of end-of-life care. Reference was made to people in this situation in the context of the so-called double effect. At the heart of the Constitution is the right to life, but there is also a right to one's life and how one chooses to bring that life to an end when it is nearing its end due of illness. Is it a basic human right to have a say in how someone ends his or her life through legal and medical mechanisms? That is how questions around assisted dying should be posed. What is the difference between somebody who is weeks or months away from the end of his or her life, who is coming to the end through a terminal illness and somebody to whom a doctor will administer morphine that hastens his or her death? That is the fundamental question I want to pose vis-à-visthe submissions made today.