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Irish Dying with Dignity bill declared not workable

End of July, the Justice Committee decided the last year proposed Dying with Dignity Bill is not workable in its current form. The Committee recommended that a Special Oireachtas Committee on assisted dying should be set up to take a deeper look at the issue.

Chair of the Justice Committee, James Lawless, says it is the technical nature of the bill that was flawed, rather than the issue itself: “The bill itself wasn’t for for purpose to progress, unfortunately as a piece of legislation it didn’t stack up. It wasn’t robust enough, there were a number of drafting errors, there were a number of technical legal errors.”

What’s next?

Sponsor of the bill, People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny, says he will begin to re-draft the legislation: “I’m under no illusion that there’s a lot of work to be done but it can be overcome.” If accepted, a new committee could take another year to report – with Deputy Kenny saying he is still hopeful of passing a new bill in the lifetime of this Government.

Sources

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