John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I do not think Mr. Wall has anything to fear on this. We have heard evidence of the slippery slope. It appears to have happened in some countries. We have also heard evidence of some countries where it is very strictly controlled and where it is confined to end-of-life issues. It seems incontrovertible from the witness testimony we have heard that there are some jurisdictions where what was intended is not what has transpired. This is not what I want here. To come back to an earlier point, I was very taken with the Swiss model. Dignitas representatives came before the committee and explained that palliative care professionals take part in its model of end-of-life care. I want to put this on the record. Palliative care professionals are very much part of it.

I do not know anybody in my lifetime who has died on their own terms, to be quite honest. We do not come into the world on our own terms and that is for sure. I really do not know of anybody who has died on their own terms. Mr. Curran might want to say a little bit more about what he meant. With regard to the meeting in the Teachers' Club we have a lot of committee meetings tomorrow. I would like to get there if I can but I ask that Mr. Curran keeps us up to date on it.

I asked the secretariat to circulate a story that had appeared on this issue and Mr. Ahern reinforced it in his testimony. This is with regard to the absolute abject loneliness of the final journey. If we legislated to some degree, and in my view it would be very narrow, Mr. Ahern would not have had to do what he did. He would have had friends, family and support mechanisms. He would have been in his own country and his own home surrounded by his own people. I am sorry that he had to experience what he did. This has certainly struck me very forcibly.