More than two-thirds of Irish support physician-assisted dying

More than two-thirds of Irish people support legalizing assisted dying for terminally ill patients, according to a new opinion poll.

A poll published in the Sunday Times found that 68% of Irish people were in favor of legalizing physician-assisted dying, while 20% were against the measure and 12% were undecided.

In total, 79% of people under 35 said they supported physician-assisted dying, while support for the measure was more than 20% lower among those 55 and over.

The Behavior & Attitudes poll found that 71% of people would be opposed to prosecuting someone who helped a terminally ill person end their life, while only 12% of people said they would support a pursuit.

People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny won all-party support in the Dáil last year for his dignity bill, but the bill was rejected by the Oireachtas justice committee in July because it had serious drafting flaws.

Fianna Fáil TD James Lawless, chairman of the Oireachtas justice committee, explained at the time that the decision to reject the bill was based on it being poorly drafted.

“The somewhat reluctant point of view was that even though the majority of us said we have to see how this could be advanced, this particular bill does not seem like the right vehicle for it to us,” Lawless said. last July.

Kenny has since reformulated the bill based on legislation recently passed in Queensland, Australia, to address the Committee’s concerns.

The updated bill would give a person with six months to live due to an incurable disease the opportunity to end their life with medical assistance.

Kenny said only a small number of people were eligible for medical assistance to end their lives under the conditions set by the new bill.

“A disabled person could never take advantage of this legislation, or a person suffering from a mental illness or an advanced age”, Kenny told the Sunday Times.

The People Before Profit TD also told Newstalk that the majority of patients with incurable diseases will not benefit from physician-assisted dying.

“The majority of people with a terminal illness would never want to benefit from assisted dying. Never.

“But there is a small cohort of people who would at least have the peace of mind that they could take advantage of it.”