Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the speaking time. I accept this is a difficult issue but I believe that once the door is opened, there will be no such thing as limiting access. We have seen that in all jurisdictions where assisted dying has been introduced it has grown and grown. Often what happens in a situation such as this is the proponents propose something very limited at the beginning and it then gets widened.

As somebody who is not, according to Wikipedia, quite the age of the esteemed Acting Chair but who in the older age bracket, I am very concerned about such a suggestion. The older one gets the more one faces the inevitability one will die. There is a danger of moral pressure being put on people over time as this would expand. I have serious reservations. The issue deserves a wide debate. I do not go along with the argument that the view of palliative care doctors, specialists and nurses can be just dismissed as irrelevant. Science has advanced. I believe what the Minister said regarding palliative care and the State has a huge importance here. It is absolutely vital for the State if we are taking a really caring attitude that everyone would have access to very high-quality palliative care. Let us be honest about it: most people cling dearly onto life even when they know they are terminally ill. Most people go to extraordinary lengths to extend their life even though they are suffering quite a bit because it seems to be in their DNA. I have serious reservations about the road we are going on looking around the world at other jurisdictions. That was the point made by Deputy Durkan and I would like to voice my reserved view on that.

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