John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

With us in the Gallery today are Mr. Tom Curran, the partner of Ms Marie Fleming, and Ms Fleming's daughter, Catriona, along with some friends. I gave the Taoiseach notice of this question because I know the issue is controversial and delicate, although we can be reflective.

When the Supreme Court delivered its ruling last month that Ms Fleming did not have the right to assisted suicide, it was noted by the court that there was nothing to stop the Oireachtas from legislating to allow for assisted suicide in such cases, once it was satisfied that appropriate safeguards could be put in place. Ms Marie Fleming still wants the right to die at the time of her choosing. She remains a competent but terminally ill adult who is in the last stages of multiple sclerosis, is severely physically disabled and suffers frequently from severe pain, which at times is unbearable. She has little mobility and needs help to eat and drink. She must be washed, dressed and repositioned in her wheelchair continuously. She is now losing her ability to swallow.

Mr. Curran remains in a legal limbo because although it is legal for Marie to commit suicide, it is illegal for Tom to assist her in doing so, and if he did so he could face a jail term of 14 years. We all have a right to demand a dignified life, but we also have a right to a dignified and peaceful death. It is everybody's wish to have a peaceful death. In light of the Supreme Court statement, would the Government commit to, or even consider, introducing measures that would allow rational and terminally ill people to choose to have an assisted death when they wish, with appropriate safeguards to ensure that the choice would be rational and without external pressure? We would need to provide the best possible medical care and quality of life for elderly and seriously ill people to ensure they do not come under external pressure to want to die. Such safeguards would not compel anybody to do anything they do not choose for themselves in sound mind. They would only apply to terminally ill, conscious and competent adults who can make autonomous decisions and they would not extend to incompetent and terminally ill adults, children or babies. Such a process would come into play when people's suffering surpasses the will to live, and the choice would be carefully regulated. I ask the Taoiseach to show some compassion to a woman who is critically ill and suffering unbearable pain. As I stated initially, we have a right to and demand dignity in life, but each of us as sentient beings also has a right to dignity in death.

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