Results 6,821-6,840 of 7,643 for speaker:Rónán Mullen

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Access to Palliative Care and Social Supports: Discussion (21 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: Listening to Dr. Colleran, it strikes me there is a health economics aspect to this subject that we as a committee have not discussed enough to date and that we may have to consider looking at. I refer to the idea that if we change the law, we might unleash dynamics around the funding of healthcare that would, in fact, undermine people's autonomy rather than add to it. That is perhaps for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Access to Palliative Care and Social Supports: Discussion (21 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: I was struck by the whole question of what is dignity, and I was thinking about it in the context of the terrible stuff we are witnessing happening in Gaza now. For me, it is a fundamental principle that everybody has dignity and always has dignity. The question is whether the person's dignity is being respected in a given situation. This is why I do not like the term "dying with dignity",...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Access to Palliative Care and Social Supports: Discussion (21 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: Does Dr. Molloy want to add something?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Access to Palliative Care and Social Supports: Discussion (21 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: Helping people to live well until they die is how we described it, and how we heard it described, when I was involved in compiling a report on this subject some years ago in the context of the Council of Europe.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Access to Palliative Care and Social Supports: Discussion (21 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: To some degree, I respectfully disagree with my friend Gino. I have a strong sense over the past couple of weeks from the testimony of some of those who work more carefully and closely with people in the area of mental health in terms of suicide prevention, our expert psychiatrists and our witnesses today as experts in end-of-life love and care, that there is a real sense that what are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Access to Palliative Care and Social Supports: Discussion (21 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: I will ask one final question. We hear a lot of talk about opinion polls and what they say on one issue or another. I am thinking these days, for example, about opinion polls on immigration. The view is sometimes taken that if certain attitudes come up in opinion polls, this can point to the need for more public information. If opinion polls were to show majority support for a change in...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (29 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: I agree with some of what my colleague, Senator Dooley, has said, but I disagree to an extent. The worst thing to happen in our country for a long time happened last Thursday morning with the stabbing of innocent people, including three young children and their carer. Our thoughts and prayers must remain, in particular, with the five-year-old child who remains in a critical condition and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Assisted Dying in New Zealand and Australia: Discussion (28 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: I thank all of the guests. I have to say what has surprised me so far this evening is the confidence with which two out of three of our New Zealand guests are presenting their situation, given that this legislation is only up and running for two years, which is a wet week. I think it was Zhou Enlai who, when asked about the French Revolution and what he thought of it, was supposed to have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Assisted Dying in New Zealand and Australia: Discussion (28 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: To be clear, you do not favour unrestricted choice in this area.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Assisted Dying in New Zealand and Australia: Discussion (28 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: I am asking you whether you support it on wider grounds such as disability. I am just trying to see whether those who show us how limited this is-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Assisted Dying in New Zealand and Australia: Discussion (28 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: That is your desire, is it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Assisted Dying in New Zealand and Australia: Discussion (28 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: Would you fully support for all time, is that your view?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Assisted Dying in New Zealand and Australia: Discussion (28 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: That is all I wanted to know.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Assisted Dying in New Zealand and Australia: Discussion (28 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: There are people who are more libertarian on the thing. This is what I am trying to establish. There are people who say this is just restricted and so far, no problem. We have heard and I do not know if it is true or if you would dispute it, but is it possible you are not picking up on problems because you are not gathering data? Is what Dr. Donnelly says true, that the proposals to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Assisted Dying in New Zealand and Australia: Discussion (28 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: Could Dr. Good perhaps address that question about data because it is key to the credibility of the whole process? Is what Dr. Donnelly said true about the inadequacy of data being gathered? Dr. Good is the official who is presumably nearest to the one responsible for administering this.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Assisted Dying in New Zealand and Australia: Discussion (28 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: I would have thought that on something so serious you would be erring on the side of getting as much data as you could. Could Dr. Donnelly speak to that issue, please?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Assisted Dying in New Zealand and Australia: Discussion (28 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: But you are not gathering data as she is saying. I do not know, I am not the expert here, but Dr. Donnelly is saying you are not gathering the data that was requested and she compared it with Oregon. I would like to hear more about that issue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Assisted Dying in New Zealand and Australia: Discussion (28 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: Certainly----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Assisted Dying in New Zealand and Australia: Discussion (28 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: If, as we have learned, and it is a rising number, 53% of those who access assisted suicide in Oregon cited feeling a burden to others as an issue of concern, that is a massive concern to people. I would expect if you are gathering data, surely it is not just about how happy are the doctors and others involved in the procedure, how happy are the people who requested it. Are you not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Assisted Dying in New Zealand and Australia: Discussion (28 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: I stepped out for a moment so it may be that Dr. Good already had a chance to answer my earlier question about the issue of practitioner intolerance. She may have addressed that but I would like to hear more about it.