Dr. Margaret Naughton:

As Pa said, we are lucky that we have great services in Kerry and people are cared for very well across the board – physically, emotionally and spiritually. However, unfortunately, there are disparities across the country with regard to pastoral care provision. Some hospitals do not have chaplains but that is a discussion for another day. As someone who has worked in pastoral care for 13 years, I think of a patient who once said to me that I must have seen many an eye close. Unfortunately, I have seen many people die over the past 13 years. From my experience, people are facilitated to die very well in our hospitals, even where there are limitations in terms of resources, palliative care and pastoral care.

Going back to the question, unfortunately, when you start having a piecemeal or anà la carte approach where it is okay for one person to have assisted suicide versus someone who is not, you are opening up a dangerous door. We are here to have a conversation tonight, but once we start opening up that it is right for one person to have assisted suicide but not another person, we are opening up the door to basically making it a reality for everybody. We very much resist that. Limitations in resources, psychological support and spiritual support is not a justification on any level to implement assisted suicide in this country. We are trying very well to meet the need that is there. From my perspective and experience, people are facilitated - irrespective of whether it is motor neurone disease, cancer or whatever it happens to be - to die very well. We do whatever we can to facilitate a person’s death and do it as well as we can.