Dr. Gabrielle Colleran:

On the capacity issue, Dr. O'Shea's point on evolving technologies and never having enough capacity is true to a degree but we need to acknowledge that Ireland is an outlier in terms of access. We have very long waiting lists for access to mental health services. Patients with depression are much more likely to want to commit suicide in the first six months before they access treatment. We have to have adequate capacity. We will never be able to see everybody the following day or the following week. We have a long journey towards ensuring that people have access.

The question of vulnerable groups was raised.

I would be happy to send on to the committee a paper by Renard et alwhich analyses the experience in Oregon. They looked at the Netherlands and patients with mental health issues who were looking to access assisted dying. They were more likely to have a lower educational background and a history of child sexual abuse along with mental health issues. We need to look at all the data from the relevant systems that have introduced-----