Dáil vote to note final report on assisted dying

The Dáil has voted to note the final report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying, which calls on the Government to legalise assisted dying in certain restricted circumstances.

The vote was 76 in favour with 53 against.

This evening's vote will not change the law in Ireland, as substantial legislation would be required to be passed by the Oireachtas and then signed by the President.

The Joint Oireachtas Committe's recommendation from last March was backed by nine of the 14 committee members, however three others issued a dissenting report opposing such a move.

A vote had been called by People Before Profit's Gino Kenny, who participated in the Committee's hearings, and is a strong advocate for its recommendation to be implemented in full.

However, Tánaiste Micheál Martin had expressed serious reservations about the recommendation to legalise assisted dying in certain restricted circumstances.

The controversial issue will now be left to the next government to consider and, should it choose, bring legislation to the Oireachtas.

The text of this evening's motion read: "That Dáil Éireann shall take note of the Report of the Joint Committee on Assisted Dying entitled: 'Final Report of the Joint Committee on Assisted Dying'; copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 21st March 2024."

For some deputies, the neutral language noting the report means members are not being asked to express a view on the controversial topic per se.

However others said the vote would provide an indication as to the level of support the committee's majority report has among deputies.

'Very serious move'

Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae said suggestions within the report are "a very serious move".

Mr Healy-Rae, who is the Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying, was not in favour of the recommendations and published a separate report alongside Fianna Fáil's Robert Troy and Senator Ronan Mullen.

Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, he said: "At present, if you assist somebody in dying in Ireland, you will get a mandatory jail sentence for doing so.

"What is being suggested in this report is that in certain limited, certain circumstances, that you could assist somebody into the journey of death and that there would not be any legal penalty for it.

"It is a very serious move."

Mr Healy-Rae said that he is "not a holy Joe", adding that his "belief is that God brings you into the world, God brings you out of it".

"I don’t believe that it’s the place of a legislator to speed you up on that journey," he said.

"I know that there are hard cases, but hard cases make for bad laws," he added.

Responding to Mr Healy-Rae on the same programme, People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny said the choice of assisted dying should be a "fundamental human right".

He said: "I boil it down to this: if somebody is in a position where they’re terminally ill and they do not want to go through a certain period of that illness, whether it’s weeks, days or even hours, they should have a fundamental human right to say 'I want to end my life on my terms' when they’re coming to the end of their life.

"Not everybody will choose that situation.

"In fact, the majority of people will never want to have that choice at all, under any circumstances, but certain people in certain situations should have that choice."

Mr Kenny said he believed "the majority of people in Ireland support that conclusion".

Regarding the risk of euthanasia becoming an expectation aimed at certain groups in society, Mr Kenny rejected the idea.

"If that person is making a choice in terms of their full capacity, I don’t see it conflicting with palliative care, I don’t see it conflicting with end of life choices," he said.

"I just think it should be a choice of somebody who’s in that situation," he added.

Mr Healy-Ray said that he was not satisfied with the safeguards recommended.

"I looked at the evidence given from psychiatrists who also argued to us that, in their terminology, it could lead to a slippery slope, with increasing numbers of people looking to end their lives because of a number of different reasons," Mr Healy Rae said.

However, Mr Kenny said that in other countries, such as New Zealand and Australia, there are "safeguards, there’s oversight, there’s a legal framework of how somebody makes that request".

"It’s very, very complex in terms of how someone makes that decision," he added.

But, he said, if there is a person who "has the full capacity to say that they don’t want to go through a certain part of their life, who is it to say that anybody has to go through every single minute of a complicated death - nobody except that person".

"That person should have the legal right and the medical right to die on their own terms," he added.

In response, Mr Healy-Rae said that Mr Kenny’s point was sincere and well made, but countered that "life is given by God, life is precious and every life is worth living".

He said: "Yes of course, there are hard and tough and sad cases, but those cases would make bad legislation and bad law.

"That’s the concern that I have.

"Using the words ‘slippery slope’, it’s negating the value and the preciousness of life."