Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim míle buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach. Yesterday I was among the five persons appointed to a special committee of Seanad Éireann which will join of the special committee of the Dáil to form the Joint Committee on Assisted Dying, pursuant to motions passed in the Dáil and the Seanad. I first thank the Committee of Selection for supporting my application or request to be included on this committee. I am sure, together with the other four Members of the Seanad, that I will do my best to scrutinise the issues from my own particular perspective certainly, as I know they will. This will be with a close eye to be seen to do justice in this situation.

I put on record at this point that I have concerns about the terming of the committee as the joint committee on assisted dying. What is proposed here by some in these Houses is a change in the law that will make certain people very vulnerable to feeling that they do not belong in our society any more. We spend a great deal of time, effort and resources, rightly, in discouraging suicide. For me, this is a joint committee looking at the issue of assisted suicide and that is how I intend to term it. I believe that the committee that has been set up should seek to be known as the joint committee on assisted dying or assisted suicide because we must not have one term leading the way, as it were, or shaping public opinion one way or the other.

The other thing is that the wording of the main task of the joint committee suggests that we are there to “consider and make recommendations for legislative and/or policy change in relation to a statutory right to assist a person to end their life”. On one reading, that is telling us what we have to do, which is to come up with recommendations for policy change. Are we entitled to recommend against policy change? I believe this has been very badly worded and is an issue upon which I have written to the chairperson-designate of the committee, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, to ask him to get a legal opinion to determine, first of all, whether we can change our title to becoming the joint committee on assisted dying or assisted suicide and, second, to verify that we in fact to have a free hand as we set about our exploration of the issues, hearing evidence, and to recommend for or against a policy or legislative change in this area. It is vital, if there is to be public confidence, that our hands are not seen to be tied right from the get-go. I thank the Cathaoirleach.