The ‘Dying with Dignity Bill’ has been passed to the committee stage following a Dáil vote.
TDs voted by 81 votes to 71 last night to progress the draft law to legalise assisted dying.
The government sought to delay the bill by up to a year so it could be examined by a special Oireachtas committee, but this referral was voted down.
The bill was then subject to a rare ‘free vote’, where no TDs were subject to a party whip.
Donegals TDs voted as follows:
Tá/Yes: Pearse Doherty TD (Sinn Féin), Padraig Mac Lochlainn TD (Sinn Féin), Thomas Pringle TD (Independent)
Níl/No: Minister Charlie McConalogue (Fianna Fáil), Joe McHugh TD (Fine Gael)
The purpose of the Dying with Dignity Bill is ‘to make provision for assistance in achieving a dignified and peaceful end of life to qualifying persons’. If this Bill is enacted this would give a medical practitioner the legal right to provide assistance to a qualifying person to end his or her own life in accordance with the terms set out in the Act.
