THE JOINT OIREACHTAS Committee on assisted dying is holding its first public meeting today and will hear submissions from the Department of Justice as well as the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC). 

Assistant secretary at the Department of Justice Rachel Woods will outline the legal implications of legislating for assisted dying when addressing the committee today. 

Woods will explain that any move to legislate for assisted dying would require changes to the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act 1993, which prohibits people from assisting someone in ending their own life. 

The extent of those changes would depend on the specifics of any framework that the committee puts forward once its work has concluded, which is expected to be in March next year.

The cross-party panel of five senators and nine TDs will also hear from Sinéad Gibney, chief commissioner of the IHREC, who will explain the need for robust and adequate safeguarding of people’s fundamental rights while drafting any legislation in the area of assisted dying.

The right to life must be protected at all times, the committee will hear. 

One of the chief concerns of both the Department and IHREC is the potential for people to be pressured into ending their lives. Therefore, both representatives will say, strong safeguards must be part of any legislation that comes out of the process.

Those safeguards should include, but not be limited to the positive obligation to protect the right to life, the need for free and informed consent and protections from duress, the right to health and palliative care and the right to participate in decision making.

Gibney will tell the committee that drafting such legislation is not an easy or enviable task due to the complexity of the issues being considered and the impact they may have on people’s lives.

Another area of concern for IHREC is the welfare of people with disabilities, especially when it comes to consent and decision making. 

Proactive inclusion of disabled people in the decision-making process should be a core aspect of any legislation and the voices of people with disabilities should be considered in the process. 

To that end, Gibney is to provide a list of measures that her organisation believes should be part of any legislation on the issue.

They include the exclusion of disability as grounds for eligibility, safeguards ensuring consent specifically for disabled people, access to alternatives such a palliative care, rights-based supports and the provision of accurate information about prognosis and peer-support counselling.

Additionally, the human rights organisation also want there to be accountability regulations requiring the collection and reporting of detailed information about each case.

Speaking to The Journal earlier this month, one of the committee members, People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny, said he “would like to see that the committee recommend legislative change around assisted dying.”

“We’ll look at the whole spectrum of assisted dying; the legal and constitutional issues, safeguards, international contexts, ethical issues.

“There’s a lot to cover, the committee will meet for around 26 weeks and all sorts of groups and individuals will be invited in.

“At the end of that process, the committee will then make recommendations and provide them via a report put before the Dáil.

“There’ll be five sessions before the summer recess, and then we’ll continue the committee’s work in September and finalise its recommendations around mid-March.

“There is probably around one year left of the lifetime of this government and I would hope that the government will then take the issue on,” he said. 

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Committee Cathaoirleach Michael Healy Ray said today’s meeting is “the first opportunity for the Committee to engage with stakeholders regarding the legal and constitutional context in Ireland in relation to assisted dying.” 

 “The Committee is eager to work together and with stakeholders on this complex and important issue.