John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

For the public who may be watching, this debate was scheduled for later in the evening but, obviously, business moved much more quickly, and it is concluding now. I am very grateful for the opportunity to speak on it. I will not be supporting any motions on this next week. While I understand why Deputy Kenny is doing that and bringing it forward, because he has very much championed the whole process, there is an awful lot more teasing out to be done. Certainly, the public needs to be involved in a very real way. I certainly supported in committee the idea of a referendum of the people in that regard. It is a pity that it has been pushed because I thought the committee did really good work. I want to pay tribute to the Chair, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, who chaired it so impartially, fairly and thoroughly, the committee and research staff, the clerk to the committee and all the officials who worked so earnestly, impartially and fairly.

Although I can only speak for myself, I believe everyone who went into the process found it incredibly engaging, challenging and interesting. The witnesses were what I would call very top class, from academics right across to those involved in palliative care, as well as international witnesses who gave us the absolute best of their knowledge and experience in dealing with this topic.

One issue I was keen to ensure happened, which I think it was reflected in the report, was that going into the process, it was too easy to associate the notion of assisted dying with particular conditions. As a committee, we avoided naming conditions, which I think was really important because there are people with conditions who are living their absolutely best lives and the last thing they would think of is the notion of assisted dying. Some of the reports carried even by the mainstream media, including the national media, were to the effect that the committee was recommending to introduce euthanasia almost against people's will. That was how it was presented and it really scared people.

For my part, one of the pieces of evidence that was brought to us was that there is some pain that is beyond the reach of palliative care. That was very clearly demonstrated. I also have huge sympathy for those professionals who spend their lives administering palliative care to people who are in great pain and make their lives incredibly comfortable as they come to the end of their lives. The issues they have could be teased out a little bit more. While Deputy Kenny might be right that there is a majority, I do not know about that. While I think people in an off-the-cuff way may say that yes, they agree with assisted dying, one can then ask them about who administers it and in what way. The issues we discussed at length probably need to be discussed even more. How do we know the person who is making the decision is of sound mind when he or she is making that decision or that he or she is not being influenced unduly by anybody or is not under pressure? We received international evidence supporting that notion from different jurisdictions. How I saw the report and the process was that it was the first time a conversation had been started. A huge number of witnesses appeared before the committee and gave their best in terms of information, knowledge and experience, many openly contradicting each other with factual evidence whereby if one position was stated, another position was then stated.

People out there have emailed some of us who think we are going to introduce a law next Wednesday and want us to either support or oppose it. That is not happening and that needs to be made very clear. I would support a referendum if it came to it but I think we are a long way away from that. Much more conversation is needed in the topic. That is really what I wanted to say. I am very grateful for the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach's forbearance in allowing me in against the protocols. I did not think it was going to come up in the Dáil schedule so early.

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