LAST UPDATE | 23 Oct

THE DÁIL HAS voted to “note” a report completed by the Oireachtas committee on assisted dying.

The Committee, which held its first public meeting in June 2023, released its final report in March, which included 38 recommendations.

A total of 76 TDs this evening voted in favour of the report, while 53 TDs voted against.

The vote was largely split among the government benches. 

Speaking in advance of the vote Fine Gael TD and committee member Alan Farrell poured cold water on the significance of this evening’s vote, arguing that it was nothing more than procedural and “politics at its worst”.

This evening’s vote was not to approve the recommendations but rather “take note” at the fact that the report had been completed and published, the Dublin Fingal East TD said. 

The committee recommended legislation to allow assisted dying under strict criteria.

However, not all members of the committee were in favour of the recommendations, with Committee chair Michael Healy-Rae, Robert Troy and Rónán Mullen issuing a minority report at the time. 

The committee’s recommendations largely focused on ensuring that safeguards would be in place to prevent people from being coerced into ending their lives or from making a decision to end their life without being fully capable of doing so. 

Speaking to The Journal after the report’s release in March, Sinn Féin Spokesperson for Health David Cullinane, who sat on the committee, said he was doubtful that this Government would pass legislation.

With a general election on the horizon, it is expected that the issue will be for the next Government to handle. Cullinane said that any legislation on the topic will be very complex.

The Assisted Dying Bill was tabled by People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny in 2020.

During a debate in the Dáil last week, Kenny remarked that while he understands that some people “will oppose assisted dying under any guise, it is a fundamental human right that a person should have a say in how he or she dies”.

Kenny noted that his view on the matter would have been a “very minority view” around 15 years ago. 

“Things have moved on for the good in Ireland,” said Kenny. “It is not perfect by any means, but people have moved on regarding social issues, including women’s healthcare and marriage equality.

“This is one of those issues that stops us in our tracks and ask us individually and collectively what we would do in a situation where one of our loved ones is coming to the end of his or her life.”

Kenny also described the report as ”very comprehensive and thorough” and added that its “recommendations reflect public opinion”.

In a statement today, the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference called on TDs to reject the Bill. 

In its open letter, the Bishops said the final weeks of a person’s life can be time in which they “come to understand themselves better, and to experience the love of family members and friends”.

The Bishops’ Conference also argued that “autonomy is taken away” with legislation for assisted dying. 

“The Church does not and never has insisted on the use of extraordinary means to prolong life,” said the Bishops’ Conference. “Nor is there any moral obligation on a sick person to accept treatment which they feel is unduly burdensome. 

“A decision to end life prematurely, however, cuts off any prospect of growth or healing and represents a failure of hope.”

The group called for palliative care to be more widely available and for more resources to be delivered to it. 

The Bishops’ Conference also claimed that “people with intellectual disabilities would be particularly vulnerable” and that it “would be only a matter of time before proposals would be on the table” to extend assisted dying legislation to include people with intellectual disabilities.

-With additional reporting from Diarmuid Pepper and Muiris O’Cearbhaill