Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 7 November 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying

Protecting Autonomy and Assessing Decision-making Capacity: Discussion

Dr. Stephen Duckworth:

In terms of changing minds, there are other organisations and people who have changed minds. In 2015, Disability Rights UK, which is a national representative of disabled people's organisations, held the position of opposing assisted dying but it is now neutral. The British Medical Association, BMA, adopted a similar approach more recently as, indeed, have other medical bodies. Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, stated recently that the moral case for change in the law is irrefutable, both from a Christian and moral perspective. Dr. Taj Hargey, a Muslim academic and imam, supports the position. Bishop Desmond Tutu supports the position so from a religious perspective and a disability rights perspective, support is changing.

Could the Senator repeat the second part of her question?