Fianna Fáil TDs will have a free vote on whether to accept the findings of a report which recommends allowing assisted dying in certain restricted circumstances.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said “it will be a vote of conscience for every individual of the Fianna Fáil party”.
He told People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny that “within the Fianna Fáil party we’ve had a view for close to a decade now that issues to do with life, are an issue of conscience and that will remain the position in respect of this”.
But he said: “I myself don’t agree with this legislation. I have really serious reservations about it.”
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Mr Kenny has called for all Government parties to allow a free vote on the issue and believes opinion has shifted in recent years on the issue and that recent polls show “a clear majority that would support assisted dying in Ireland”.
It is possible the report could be accepted by the Dáil, but it still leaves it for the next Government to take action, he said.
The Final Report of the Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying, published in March, was debated in the Dáil on Thursday afternoon and will be voted on next Wednesday when votes are taking on issues that have arisen over the preceding week.
The committee’s report recommends legislative change allowing for assisted dying “in certain restricted circumstances”, including a person having less than 12 months to live and medical certification of an unendurable condition.
In the debate Mr Kenny said the committee had been very thorough, meeting 26 times with more than 100 witnesses from the “broad spectrum of this debate”, which sparked from a number of court cases.
He believed “it is a fundamental human right that a person should have a say in how they die”.
He pointed to “conflicted opinion” among medical personnel.
“When we grapple with this issue....think about the person suffering needlessly who is going through a terrible death.” He had seen at first hand where somebody “literally wants to die and they can’t. And in that situation someone should have a choice.”
The report made 38 recommendations including on eligibility, safeguards, capacity, ethical oversight and conscientious objection. Eleven of the 14 members of the committee recommended legislative change.
Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan said assisted dying was a “uniquely difficult” measure for legislators to address because of the personal moral challenges.
The report is receiving the “most careful appraisal and attention”, he said.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said many people would be motivated by compassion on this issue but the introduction of assisted suicide is a “very dangerous step that crosses a significant rubicon in terms of the protection of the most vulnerable people in Ireland”.
Independent TD Carol Nolan called for the Dáil to reject the report, calling assisted suicide a “monstrous dereliction of care” adding that it would be “to our lasting shame if this report is adopted”.
Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane believed the vast majority of citizens understand the complexity and different range of views. “They understand that there are illnesses out there where people have very horrendous deaths and families watch people die horrendously in very difficult circumstances.”
Fianna Fáil TD John Lahart, a member of the committee, said he would support a referendum on the issue but he believed there was “an awful lot more teasing out to be done”.
He asked “how do we know the person making the decision is of sound mind” and not being unduly influenced or under pressure.
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