Dying with Dignity Bill 2020: Second Stage [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2020-10-01
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Alan Kelly (LAB), Tipperary

As leader of the Labour Party, I want to add my and my party's support to this important legislation. I commend Deputy Gino Kenny on introducing the Bill tonight, as I have done in private on a number of occasions. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the work of the former Minister of State and Deputy, John Halligan, who ploughed a lonely furrow for a considerable period. I hope he is watching tonight. He is still advocating for it.
It is vital to handle this issue sensitively irrespective of one's view. It is quite an emotive topic and many people have differing views. I have met people who have changed their views in the past week. I respect the Government's position. I respect the conversations we have had. I do not agree with the Government's position in delaying this for a year. During the Covid crisis it would not materialise. I appreciate the sincerity with which it was put forward.
At the end of the day we are legislators and we need to legislate. We must legislate for this issue now. This is not a perfect Bill. What we are doing tonight is putting forward our principle that we need to deal with this as legislators. The Labour Party has a number of issues with the Bill and we will deal with them on Committee Stage in the coming weeks and months.
We have gone through considerable societal change in recent years. Irish people have always come through a process and showed their caring nature irrespective of their opinions on very sensitive issues. We have also gone through a very tough six months with Covid and many people have questioned their own mortality. We have had different conversations around our kitchen tables. When a loved one becomes sick with a serious illness and the end of their life is nearing, we all want to do whatever we can to help them and stop their pain and suffering.
Improving end-of-life care and providing outlets for dying with dignity are imperative. This issue cannot be kicked down the road any longer. I acknowledge the work of Gail O'Rourke and the sacrifices she made. I also acknowledge Marie Fleming and Tom Curran. We all know Marie's story. While she was in the final stages of multiple sclerosis, she brought a landmark case in the Supreme Court to challenge the State's legal ban on assisted suicide. We know she lost her battle, but through her spirit what she advocated for was the spark that has ignited this discussion and brought us to where we are tonight. Her campaign is ongoing and she kick-started a national debate on these matters, which will be her lasting legacy.
I have said many times in this House that I have met one of the bravest women many of us have ever heard or have had the privilege of meeting. I have become a good friend of hers. I am speaking about Vicky Phelan. I listen very closely to Vicky Phelan. I know the proposer of the Bill does also. I was reassured by her stance in the multiple conversations I had with her. I speak to her every week and I spoke to her earlier today. She asked me to read something into the Dáil record tonight. The following words are not mine, but Vicky Phelan's:
You have been asked to debate a very important Bill this evening - the Dying with Dignity Bill. I understand that there will be very many of you who may not agree with what this Bill proposes - assisted dying. However, all that I am asking of you is to park your own views on this issue for a moment and consider this:
Imagine that you are dying from an incurable cancer. You are still relatively young with young children. You do not want to die yet you know that, barring a miracle, this is not going to happen.
You do not know how long you have left yet all you can think about is dying and leaving your children behind.
You know that people suffering from the same cancer, who have died before you, endured a lot of pain in their final weeks.
Indeed, you have sat with some of these patients in their final weeks and watched them and their loved ones suffer unnecessarily while they waited for the last breath.
You will never forget the sound of the death rattle, a sound that you know is facing you when your time comes and which haunts you when you imagine your young children having to witness this.
Now, imagine that there is another way.
Imagine that you can choose to control the circumstances of your inevitable death.
Imagine that, by virtue of this Bill, that you are allowed to die, gently, at home, surrounded by your family and friends when your time is nearing its end.
I do not have to imagine.
THIS is what this Dying with Dignity Bill would do for me and my family.
I do not want to die.
I am NOT choosing between living and dying.
My cancer is incurable.
The option of living will no longer be available to me in the not too distant future.
I just want to be allowed to have the choice to control the circumstances of my death much as I have made decisions about my own life.
Please, I ask all of you who have a free vote on this issue:
Do not vote for the amendment proposed by Cabinet and [Government] and send this Bill to a Special Committee to be scrutinised for another 12 months.
Vote for this Bill to go through to the Second Stage and allow for pre-legislative scrutiny to take place NOW, not in 12 months time.
Do not kick this issue down the road for another 12 months.
Please.
Voting for this Bill will bring a huge amount of comfort and clarity to people, like me, who know they are going to die, and die with a certain amount of suffering and pain.
Allow people to make choices for themselves.
We all know that this is not a black-and-white issue. We all know there will be grey areas and that we will have to go through this legislation in a huge amount of detail. We all know we will change parts of the legislation, to which the proposer is very much open. We all know there are concerns about people who are considered vulnerable and that people could potentially be taken advantage of. We all know checks and balances will have to be put in place. We in the Labour Party value people's dignity above all else and want to ensure that everybody is protected and everybody can have the fullest life that he or she deserves.
This is not something that is a replacement for palliative care. Please let no Member stand up here and say that this is a replacement for palliative care. No one in this House should do so because that is not what we are dealing with. There a number of legal issues and a number of issues in the Bill which will have to be changed. These issues relate to, for instance, section 2 of the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act 1993, which prohibits aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the suicide of another person. This Bill is concerned with removing that ban. However, section 12 of this Bill seems to override section 2 of the 1993 Act in its entirety. This is an issue we will have to deal with as we go through this Bill on Committee Stage. There is another issue with section 12 of the Bill, which states that nothing in the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act 1993 make unlawful the provision of assistance in accordance with this Bill. However, this Bill is concerned with more than just providing assistance. It authorises in circumstances the direct administration of substances by the attending physician. Therefore we are going to have to deal with that as well.
Supporting this Bill is a brave stance to take and I am glad to be a Member of this House and to supporting it with colleagues from across all different forms of politics. I urge Members to consider this Bill very deeply as they make up their minds and to consider the people advocating for it and, most of all, to consider the fact that we, as legislators, have to deal with this legislation in a very timely fashion. I ask Members to please support the Bill and not the Government's amendment.

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:48:38+00:00
Sitting date: 2020-10-01