Ms Elma Walsh:

I thank the committee for inviting me to speak today around my lived experience in relation to end-of-life care and assisted suicide. Our son, Donal, came to national prominence in 2013 as he fought his final battle with cancer. Having your son die from cancer at the age of 16 is the exception in life but from the time Donal was diagnosed as terminal, he lived while dying with the help of his palliative care team. The team not only took Donal into its care, it also looked after us as a family and individually and took our worries, fears and general well-being into consideration. In October 2012, he was told he had weeks - maybe months - to live. In December of that same year, he was told to maybe have an early Christmas. In February 2013, he was told he might not see Easter, yet after Easter, in April 2013, following local publicity, he was asked onto RTÉ and had a conversation with Brendan O'Connor. In addition to the RTÉ coverage, that conversation has had hundreds of thousands of hits on social media, even to this very day, ten years later. He spoke about valuing life and appreciating every minute. He contrasted his circumstances of wanting to get every minute out of life with those who were taking their lives by suicide and the devastation that caused families. That conversation has saved many lives. It led to our family setting up the Donal Walsh #Livelife Foundation in order to promote his anti-suicide, live life message.

I have two different but related messages. The first concerns palliative care. It should not be underestimated. This type of care is focused on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of a terminal illness. The goal is to improve quality of life for both the patient and the family. That is what it did for Donal and for us in his final and most important challenge. It does not hasten death. Palliative care is a way of easing people into their final, most important struggle. A fundamental principle of palliative care, in the words of the World Health Organization, is “neither to hasten nor to postpone death”. Palliative care is about care at the end of life, not about ending life, as I am sure the experts remind the committee. As an organisation, the Donal Walsh #Livelife Foundation has been involved in campaigning for greater resources to be allocated to palliative care. In 2015-2016, we donated €80,000 to Kerry Hospice and €40,000 to Milford Hospice. Although we do not ask for money, people generously contribute to our mission to help donate money to other hospices and mental care facilities. If we neglect palliative care or turn it into something it is not by linking it with euthanasia, it will be to the detriment of living. Palliative care provides opportunities for making memories and enjoying what time we have left with family while knowing our time is short. When you think about it, in some ways, they are the lucky ones because we are all dying, every day. For me, any introduction of assisted suicide or euthanasia would undermine the trust placed in doctors when it comes to end-of-life care; they would be seen as death-givers. In some countries where it is legalised, such as in Canada and Holland, the deadly drug can now be given for autism, tinnitus and mental health issues. Surely, this is not what we want for some of the more vulnerable population of this country. I can honestly say that, with the help of palliative care, Donal died with dignity and got to complete most of what he wanted to do. I fear what this committee could set in motion because if it removes the present legal requirement that doctors do what they can to save lives, the value of life will be significantly reduced. Can anyone here guarantee that elderly people will not be subtly or overtly pressured into taking end-of-life pills in a situation, for example, in which they are living in a family house and the child or grandchild is looking for a house or when the cost of their care is making them feel like a burden? We already know that coercion happens around handing over moneys and going into nursing homes. Often, all the elderly want to do is to live in their own homes, which they have earned, in the communities in which they have lived all their lives. They are made to feel guilty by taking up a space a younger family may need.

The second message I want to convey is about suicide. Donal spent his last months encouraging people to value life; four months after Donal died, the recently-deceased coroner Terence Casey said that Donal’s appeal to young people about suicide has "considerably reduced" suicides in Kerry. Mr. Casey also said, “Donal speaking out in the way he did has made a huge difference. I usually deal with 18 suicides a year on average ... but since Donal spoke out about suicide, I have had no suicides from March to August”.

More than a year later, traleetoday.iereported the coroner as saying that since Donal appeared on Radio Kerry “Kerry Today” programme in March 2013, there have been four reported suicides in the south Kerry area. This is a drop of 24 from 28 reported in the prior 12 months.

Society must promote hope. Assisted suicide is a statement of no hope. Palliative care allowed Donal to spread a message of hope and reduce the number of suicides. Telling young people that their life is valuable, no matter how uphill it may seem at the time, is important. As Donal said, “Everybody has their own mountain to climb.” Legalising assisted dying is to bring about a clash in society. Life is valuable no matter our age or circumstances. We can all help to fight against suicide by turning our back on assisted suicide.

If the Bill goes ahead, we will be in a bizarre situation where the Government will promote suicide prevention on the one hand, while offering it on the other. We would be saying suicide is okay for some people, for example, somebody who is ill or disabled. We would devalue their lives and compare them to another group the Government is reaching out to with suicide prevention campaigns.

If Donal had taken the euthanasia drug either of the two times he was told he would not live long, the number of suicides in Ireland would not have dropped. This is a potential that could have been lost. All people with long-term illness have potential to change and improves the lives of family and friends as long as they live. That is a message of hope. I thank the committee for hearing what I have to say and I hope it will be taken into consideration.