The Republic of Ireland just had an election; its legislature is already considering assisted suicide; the Irish bishops are raising their voices in alarm and no one seems to be listening. It all seems very familiar – repeating the process that has occurred over the Irish Sea in the UK mainland.
Earlier this year in July, the UK held a general election that saw the Labour Party sweep into power. Labour MP Kim Leadbeater then proposed her Primate Member’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to make assisted suicide legal for the first time in England and Wales. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW) made an impassioned move to oppose the Bill. But a vote by the UK Parliament on November 29 approved the Bill at its Second Reading by a vote of 330 in favour to 275 against, a massive step toward legalising assisted suicide in England and Wales.
Ireland seems caught in the same tailwinds as its follows a very similar course. It just held national elections at the end of November. Beforehand, the Irish Parliament had accepted the Report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying, which advocated legalising assisted suicide. Now the bishops in Ireland are calling on politicians to protect the dignity of every human person, and calling on the new government to uphold human life at all its stages, “and to prioritise the provision of palliative care for people living with chronic and terminal illness".<br><br>A sense of déjà vu is depressingly strong.
Throughout history it's been rare that the governments of the UK and Republic of Ireland have seen eye to eye: but they seem to be achieving it on assisted suicide, as momentum behind what its critics call a "culture of death" appears to grow in both jurisdictions despite the warnings of the Church.
“Assisted suicide, far from being an expression of autonomy, is a failure of care," the Irish bishops said after their Winter 2024 General Meeting. "By legislating for assisted suicide or euthanasia, the State would contribute to undermining the confidence of people who are terminally ill, who want to be cared for and want to live life as fully as possible until death naturally comes.
“In our culture, we rightly hold doctors and nurses in high esteem because they are presumed always to be at the service of life, for as long as their patient lives. We call on Catholics to stand firmly in support of nurses and doctors who stand for life. One day it may be your life."
In October, the Irish Parliament – called the Dáil – voted to “note” the final report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying, which calls on the Republic of Ireland to legalise assisted dying in certain restricted circumstances.
<a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/irish-parliament-votes-in-favour-of-report-recommending-assisted-suicide/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><em><strong>RELATED: Irish Parliament votes in favour of report recommending a</strong></em></mark>ssisted suicide</a>
Eilís Mulroy of the Pro Life Campaign said in a statement that it is important to recognise that the vote was not a vote on the issue of euthanasia or assisted suicide itself, “but was on whether to note the radical and far-reaching report of the Joint Committee on Assisted Dying, which called for the introduction of euthanasia/assisted suicide".
She added: “It would have been preferable if a majority of TDs [Ireland's equivalent to MPs] had voted No. It is clear from the remarks of many Oireachtas members in recent days that they haven’t reflected on or studied the extreme recommendations contained in the JCAD report."
After the UK vote on assisted suicide, <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/hundreds-of-british-mps-have-tarnished-their-reputations-with-this-bill-danny-kruger-was-not-one-of-them/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">MPs were roundly criticised</mark></a> for not actually having properly read and understood the Bill, thereby voting for a potentially monumental change to British society, and the way it views and treats life and death, without truly understanding the implications and factors involved.
“That so many parliamentarians were either too lazy or too stupid to learn about the technical aspects of the Bill they were urging others to vote for is perhaps the most damning indictment of the whole tragic charade," Madeline Grant wrote for the <em>Daily Telegraph</em> about the vote on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
Mulroy continued: "In addition to reducing the value of human life and undermining anti-suicide campaigns, the introduction of euthanasia/assisted suicide in Ireland would have the impact of undercutting investment in palliative care and would inevitably lead to certain vulnerable groups feeling growing pressure to opt for euthanasia/assisted suicide, as shown by what has happened in the small number of countries that have gone down this road.
“Significantly the push for euthanasia/ assisted suicide has been opposed by professional bodies such as the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland and the Irish Palliative Medicine Consultants Association. I sincerely hope TDs will take account of this going forward.
“The focus of the Oireachtas should be on promoting assisted living, not assisted dying."
The Irish bishops have also called for more focus on palliative care – just as the bishops in England Wales did, along with hundreds of experts and carers in England and Wales, who warned that assisted suicide will see a further decline in palliative care provisions that are already struggling.
“It is our experience however that, in the final weeks of terminal illness, many people can be helped to experience human and spiritual growth,” the Irish bishops said in a statement earlier this year.
“Faced with the reality of their own mortality, they can and do come to understand themselves better, and to experience the love of family members and friends.
"This can be a time when old hurts are healed and people find inner peace. This process is supported through palliative and pastoral care, which places the focus on the needs of the whole person."
The Irish bishops have also noted, just as the bishops in England and Wales did, that there is an important moral distinction between allowing life to ebb away naturally versus undue intervention to unnecessarily prolong it as well as undue intervention to end it.
“The Church does not and never has insisted on the use of extraordinary means to prolong life. Nor is there any moral obligation on a sick person to accept treatment which they feel is unduly burdensome,” the Irish bishops said.
“A decision to end life prematurely, however, cuts off any prospect of growth or healing and represents a failure of hope. It is surely far better when a person’s freedom to live is affirmed and supported by a compassionate community of care."
The main difference between the trajectory that the Republic of Ireland seems to be following on assisted suicide and what happened in the UK, and which may offer the Irish bishops some reason for hope, is that, whereas Labour secured a thumping victory in the UK, the Irish vote was much closer leaving Simon Harris, the current Taoiseach (Ireland's equivalent of prime minister), and his Fine Gael party in a far less strong position.
<em>Photo: Taoiseach Simon Harris celebrates after the declaration at the Wicklow count, the day after the election, Greystones, Ireland, 30 November 2024. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.)</em>
