Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Senator Mullen is correct that the EPA gives much wider latitude in terms of those decisions. The concern at play here is that, for the healthcare practitioner, that degree of specificity is really important and that is provided for through the mechanism of the advance healthcare directive. The preference is that the advance healthcare directive is used because, rather than, as the Senator colloquially put it, giving the nod to the EPA in terms of the decision to be made, there probably needs to be greater specificity for the healthcare practitioner in the particular circumstance. That is why the legislation is designed to recognise the preferability of using an advance healthcare directive in these circumstances.