The first week of November is an important week in the voluntary
assisted dying movement’s calendar.
On 2
November every year since 2008, World Right to Die Day has been
marked in many countries, and there are sometimes other events held
that week as part of the commemorations in different countries.
The day in
Dublin and Ireland this year was marked by a demonstration outside
the Dáil organised by End of Life Ireland, followed by a gathering
in the Dublin Unitarian Church. Two days later, there was an EU event
organised by the S&D Group in Brussels on the issue of voluntary
assisted dying, called “My Last Right”, where a petition at EU
level was discussed.
Janie
Lazar, chair of End of Life Ireland, was again the main organiser of
the two events in Dublin on World Right to Die Day, and she was also
a panellist at the event in Brussels.
Speaking to
Dublin People, Janie said that marking World Right to Die Day every
year is “extremely special because what it does is it honours the
courage of all advocates who have campaigned for assisted dying, who
in many cases have died before legislation was passed. I think it is
important to recognise the courage as well for anybody who is living
with a terminal and incurable illness. But for people who have
campaigned tirelessly around their death, I think it is important to
mark their courage.”
Politicians
attending the demonstration outside the Dáil included Labour leader
Ivana Bacik, Barry Ward TD, Jen Cummins TD and Cllr Gino Kenny. The
Dáil and Seanad do not sit on Mondays, so there may have been a
larger number of national politicians present if the demonstration
had been held on a different day.
No Irish
MEPs “sadly” attended the S&D Group event in Brussels,
according to Janie.
Asked about
the likelihood of voluntary assisted dying being introduced at EU
level, Janie explained that the question is not a simple yes-or-no
situation.
“I think
it is a longer-term initiative. With any EU petition, any major issue
that has an impact on each country’s constitution – the
legislation for something like assisted dying would be handled
according to the constitution of each country.
“But I
think it is important for the right, if you like, to assisted dying
to be recognised. While it may possibly be established as an
international human right, how it would operate in individual
countries is down to each country, which develops its own
legislation, and it is important for that to be recognised.”
Speaking
about politicians in Ireland and Irish MEPs, Janie went further:
“Our
politicians need to recognise that people are still travelling from
Ireland to have an assisted death elsewhere, and everyone’s wish is
to die at home in Ireland. Nobody should be forced to travel abroad
like a criminal and not be able to die at home here at a time of
their choosing.
“Is it
unlikely that it will be picked up by our politicians? Well, I would
ask the question – is it only when something directly impacts a
politician that that issue becomes acutely relevant to them? Because
this shouldn’t be a party issue. This is a very human issue, and at
the moment, the way the issue is being disregarded by, if you like,
our leading two parties, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, I think it is
inhumane and cruel,” Janie added.