The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying Responding published its report yesterday. Three members of the committee, including its chair, published their own ‘minority report. Responding to the publication of the report yesterday, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) said that ‘...human life, its preservation, its dignity, and its protection, are moral and precious values, which society casts off at its peril...[and] the current direction of travel, that will impact on some of the most vulnerable people in our society is not, in any way, the hallmark of a mature, caring and compassionate society.’

Commenting on the report's publication, PCI’s Convener of the Council for Public Affairs, Rev Daniel Kane said, “Changing the law to permit assisted suicide and euthanasia raises the most fundamental of questions about the value that we place as a society on human life. For people of faith, and indeed people of no faith, human life, its preservation, its dignity, and its protection, are moral and precious values, which society casts off at its peril."

Mr Kane continued, “While we need to process the detail of both the report and the minority report, the fact that two reports were published is a clear demonstration of the deep divisions that exist over this fundamental and sensitive issue.

"The mainstreaming, investing in and strengthening of palliative care services to support those who are nearing the end of their lives must be the focus and priority. The current direction of travel, that will impact on some of the most vulnerable people in our society is not, in any way, the hallmark of a mature, caring and compassionate society," he said.

Photo: Rev Daniel Kane, Convener of PCI's Council for Public Affairs.

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The Joint Committee was established by Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann in early 2023 following the Oireachtas Committee on Justice’s decision in July 2021 not to progress the Dying with Dignity Bill 2020, which the Justice Committee had described at the time as having ‘serious technical issues in several sections…and flaws’.

In a presentation to the Joint Committee in December 2023, Very Rev Dr David Bruce, Convener of PCI’s General Council, voiced PCI’s ongoing ethical, moral and legal concerns to members with regards to any possible legislative changes to the status quo. He was joined on the call by Dr Rebecca Stevenson, PCI’s Public Affairs Officer. You can read the news report of his presentation here.