FORMER DUBLIN TD Gino Kenny is cautiously optimistic that the issue of assisted dying will appear before politicians in the Dáil again, despite any reference of the topic being omitted from the draft Programme for Government.

Ex-People Before Profit TD for Dublin-Mid West Kenny first proposed a bill on voluntary assisted dying in 2020 that kicked started a committee to examine whether to introduce laws in Ireland.

The issue appeared before the Dáil at the end of the last term following a report by the committee that recommended assisted dying be made legal in Ireland with a number of safeguards.

Speaking to The Journal today, Kenny said he was not surprised that the issue does not feature in the Programme for Government, but is optimistic that it will appear before TDs again over the next five years.

He said he hopes People Before Profit will lead the charge to re-introduce the issue into the Dáil.

While admitting that the composition of the new Dáil is slightly different to the former chamber, he argued that a committee of TDs with a similar variety of views on the issue scrutinised the topic and a “clear majority” supported legislative action.

“If there was a vote tomorrow, it’d be very close in terms of people wanting to proceed to the next stage of the legal procedure. It ran out of time in the last Dáil, but there’s four and a half years there for it to be legislated for,” he said.

Kenny, who was unsuccessful in his bid to be re-elected to the Dáil last November, said he still believes there is the political will, scope and support for the issue to be debated and legislated for in the Dáil.

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“There’s a lot of sympathy on this issue,” he said. “Some members of the committee were fully supportive, some others were opposed and another cohort of people were cautions, but hugely sympathetic to the issue – and wanted to hear all side of the debate.”

Despite a number of Fianna Fáil TDs sitting on the Oireachtas committee on Assisted Dying, the party’s election manifesto also made no mention of introducing assisted dying. 

Party leader Micheál Martin told The Journal in November that the issue needed to be thought through more and that his party were not in a position to commit to any legislative proposals at the time.

He said the committee did “good work” but he wasn’t satisfied that members had taken an exhaustive look at the issue. Asked if it undermines the work of the group, Martin told reporters at the time: “We’re entitled, as a party, to have a position.”