John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Ms Walsh, Mr. Wall, Mr. Curran and Mr. Ahern. It is clear they have come more agonisingly close to personally dealing with the ins and outs of this issue than most people have. They have seen the issue and considered it, from both sides, inside and outside. I will make a couple of initial points. I say to Ms Walsh that there is no Bill coming. This committee has been established on the back of a Bill that was put before the Dáil. There is no Bill ready. It is our job, as a committee, to make recommendations or not, or to come up with proposals or not, at the end of our work. Nothing has been set in train yet.

I was taken by a point made by Mr. Ahern towards the end of his contribution. Death has, to a large degree, been sanitised out of society. To continue on the theme, it was very often the case 100 years ago that the bed you were born in was also the bed you died in. Death is messy, from my experience, and most of us here have experience of it. It is messy and difficult to watch. It can be very dignified. A journey with a loved one who is dying can be a real blessing, a privileged place to be and a privileged thing to be a part of, in my experience. It can also be very traumatic and distressing. Mr. Ahern is right to raise that matter. Since we have, in many cases, shifted it to hospitals and other medical settings, we are saved and protected from the reality of death. It is a messy business and I mean that in the most respectful way possible.

I thank Mr. Wall for his contribution on the religious piece that we have been talking about. I think we have moved as a society. There is a pastoral role that religions of all hues play. Theirs is a voice I would like the committee to hear. We should not be afraid of it because we will not be making our conclusions, or certainly I will not, based on those contributions but I would like to hear them.

I have a question for Ms Walsh. I ask her not to feel she is on the spot. Our guests are courageous people. We are experienced but still get nervous in front of the microphones, believe it or not. I am not putting her on the spot. We are grateful that our four guests have come before the committee to give their evidence. However, my question is based on the other evidence she has heard this morning. She gave evidence about Donal and I was taken, in particular, by the piece around suicide and that the numbers of suicides decreased after Donal's appeal. There is something we need to take away in that regard. Young people need hope. Would Ms Walsh accept, based on the evidence we have heard this morning - and this is my position, as a committee member - that there are some cases where, to use Mr. Ahern's term, the pain is constant and intolerable to the extent that even palliative care does not have the means to relieve it?