Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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I thank the witnesses very much. I am going to extend beyond that question. Last week I arrived at a point where I was saying that this is constitutionally permissible for us, subject to proportionality and safeguards. We come into that space of asking how we as legislators ensure we are sensitised and educated enough from a safeguard perspective, and I believe we are getting there this morning, to be able to know whether a safeguard is adequate when considering this. For a just society, we have to be prepared to have the courage to legislate even for very small minorities in our State. While this law may be acted upon by a very small minority, it affects the majority. It affects the entire population and it affects issues such as consent if the definition of "consent" is changed. I read Mr. Keyes's article about the implications for children with interest. Does consent change? I am talking about the voluntariness of the decision and all of that. It is not just about the overt coercion. Those people are more easily identified than when there is a sense of a person being a burden or out of loving their family and a genuine place of care perceives themselves as being a burden. How do we put in a safeguard that deals with the self-esteem of an individual in a very difficult health situation? Then there are implications for medical ethics and the mores of society.

What I worry about is in the context of change. Once there is a choice on the table, does that change the pivotal point in our society of the value of life? It is implicit within this that suddenly we are changing it. How do we ensure we are sensitised? I would like to hear more from the witnesses as a follow-up to the other questions. There are some things we could do with regard to beneficiaries such as putting a delay on probate. Mechanics could be put in place if we wanted to deal with overt coercion, where the person does not get to make the choice but if it is exercised and there is that belief we can thereafter put a delay on beneficiaries or bar them. There are things like that. How do we capture that piece of an individual in this incredibly vulnerably scene operating from a place of love and care for their family and fear? How do we touch on that and how do we keep that sensitivity to the point where we are actually changing the mores of our society?