Rónán Mullen (Independent)
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I welcome and thank everybody who has come here today. We can all agree that this is a profoundly difficult and challenging issue to have to discuss. For those of you who have been in real-life situations of losing loved ones, it is something that everybody must take seriously. At the same time, to use a well-worn expression, we all have skin in this game because what we do or do not do may very well impact on all of us.

I am struck by the fact that the discussion, as I understand it to be taking place in Irish society, really does centre around wanting to respect people's freedom as much as possible and only curtailing that if there is a fear or well-founded concern that there will be implications for other people in what is decided. I really believe that it is not a debate around dogma or some kind of preconceived "Yes" or "No" answer to this. People are trying to figure out the common good here. Certainly, what I hear Ms Walsh saying, and she should please correct me if I am wrong - she is coming from the beautiful perspective of what Donal did with his life - but I hear her saying that she is concerned. She used the phrase of a subtle and overt pressure that people might feel if the decision is made to allow some people to either end their lives or have their lives ended. That certainly chimes with something Professor Theo Boer in the Netherlands spoke about in recent weeks.

He came from a perspective where he was involved in the supervision of the euthanasia system in the Netherlands but has become much more critical of it because he sees a kind of social influence. He tended to say it was less about pressure, even though there is talk about families putting on pressure and so on, than a kind of social burdening of people that occurs.

Am I correct in thinking that Ms Walsh believes it would be harder to prevent people from feeling a burden if this law were to change?