Professor Ben White:

My answer to that would be that it is possible because there is safe voluntary assisted dying because if there was not, I would not have pointed to the Australian example where clear lines have been drawn. The Irish Parliament would be capable of doing that in exactly the same way. It has the opportunity to look at different models and to work out which model it thinks best suits the people of Ireland and to align with the values the Deputy mentioned. It is possible to do that and I would point to the Australian experience.

There was one brief point which the Deputy mentioned about protecting the medical profession. I have heard much discussion today about the harms that voluntary assisted dying causes to medical professionals. There is a wider body of evidence, so that evidence does not go all one way. Yes, it is challenging, difficult and a very significant and grave part of medical practice but there is also evidence which talks about the intrinsically rewarding nature of supporting patients with the choices they want. They also talk about the opportunity to walk that journey with their patient and to have open conversations the likes of which patients want to have. I might just flag that point because I know we discussed the protection of doctors. I think that is important. Robust conscientious objection provisions can make sure that any doctors who want to be involved are involved.

As part of our work on training in each of those three states, one of the components was a self-caring module where we engaged with what the research said on how doctors had perceived and experienced being involved in voluntary assisted dying.

There is research which points to the challenges but also the rewards and satisfaction of being able to assist patients with their choice. I wanted to mention that.