Dr. Miriam Colleran:

First, I am very sorry for the Deputy's loss. I want to take a moment to address what the Deputy was saying, which is really important. A lot of people have that concern about morphine and opioids. Obviously, I cannot comment on any individual case but the way we use opiates, and when I say opiates, morphine is in the opiate family, is for pain relief in a palliative care setting and for a certain type of shortness of breath that people can get when they have very advanced cancer affecting their lungs or what we call heart failure, when someone's heart is weakening an awful lot. There are certain times we use it to help with shortness of breath as well as with pain.

We constantly tailor the dose to the person's needs, based on what they have or what the symptoms are and how it is responding to us. It is unacceptable to us for someone to have side effects and we try to minimise them as much as possible. In a palliative care setting, there is a lot of evidence to show that using medication safely and properly does not actually hasten death. It is like everything; we have to do things safely and properly. I am very sorry for the Deputy's experience but I am glad he brought up this really important topic because that is a worry for an awful lot of people.

I will finish my point on the Deputy's second question. He asked if people change their minds as they go through illness. Absolutely, yes. The research shows that we all have expectations, hopes and wishes as we are healthier, but as life changes and our experience changes, we all change over time with regard to our hopes and expectations. That happens when people are going through illness too. There may be something that seemed unacceptable to them in the past, but as they are going through it, they get adapting or coping skills. We hope then that we have the resources in the place to help them. I am really heartened by this committee here but also by the huge emphasis on supporting people. In my own area of Kildare and west Wicklow, a really important aspect of helping to support patients and families is through home helps, enabling patients to be in their homes.