Dr. Simon Mills:

I do not have much to add to what Professor Huxtable said. It is true to say the more objective the criteria that underpin legislation, the more robust the foundation on which legislation might reasonably be built. There are issues of subjectivity that surround questions of intolerable pain and suffering.

There are issues of elision, as in the slide between what is physical pain and suffering and what is emotional pain and suffering. Going back to what Deputy Higgins said about future changes, one of the opportunities the legislation would provide for is an opportunity for the Oireachtas to control the starting point.