Ireland set to form special committee to consider legalizing assisted suicide

Following the passage of the Dying with Dignity Bill in the lower house of the Irish legislature last year, the Irish Parliament Justice Committee recommended the formation of a special committee on assisted suicide. The committee is expected to meet in October to review the possibility of legalizing assisted death, according to The Journal.

People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny said he hopes the committee will be the “beginning of a serious conversation in eventually changing the law around this issue in the lifetime of this government.”

The Dying with Dignity Bill would allow people diagnosed with terminally health conditions to access assisted suicide and would give health care professionals the legal right to help those persons commit suicide. The Justice Committee found that that legislation as proposed has “serious technical issues” and therefore, determined a special committee was necessary.

The committee is expected to have a reporting deadline of nine months, according to The Times; however, it may not be formed until after the committee on international surrogacy finalizes its review, which is expected shortly.

READ: Abortion rights groups calling for expansion of Ireland’s abortion laws

“The committee on standing orders and Dail reform has given a commitment that assisted dying will commence when one of the other committees finishes. That has now happened so hopefully it will start in the autumn,” said Kenny.

In November, Vicky Phelan, who has cervical cancer, appealed for terminally ill people to have the right to assisted suicide. The Sunday Times then built a campaign to legalize the act of medically assisted death. Phelan, who was diagnosed in 2011, said in 2021 that she didn’t want to prolong her life in order to protect her children from watching her die — a common concern of those who choose assisted suicide.

“I’m a young woman. I’ve a strong heart. I was quite fit before I got cancer. I don’t want to linger — for the kids — but, no matter how much you sedate someone, you still have to wait for the heart to go. The younger you are, the longer that’s going to take,” she said.

Research has shown that people who undergo assisted suicide most often do so due to “loss of autonomy,” not fear of their own painful suffering. Additional research has shown that people seek out an earlier, unnatural death because they are afraid of being a burden on their families, they have little to no support, and are depressed. One study out of Ireland found that 72% of those age 50 and up who “wish to die” change their minds within two years.

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