“Dying people who want this valid, end-of-life option do not have time to wait or waste,” she said, adding that a general election in Ireland — which has to be held by March 2025 but which could come sooner given the Irish premier’s resignation on Wednesday — shouldn’t prevent legislation moving forward.
But not everyone agrees.
Eoin O’Malley, a Dublin City University politics professor, said there’s been “almost no public debate” on the issue.
“It’s slightly concerning that the debate hasn’t happened, because of the tendency of the political system to plough on with important laws that can be labelled ‘progressive’ without considering their consequences (as happened on gender self ID),” he said.
David Farrell, a politics professor at University College Dublin, said the “recent debacle” over the family and care referendums — which saw voters reject a bid to modernize constitutional language on social issues — means that a public vote on the issue “is not going to happen any time soon.”
“I fear the political elite will now put the brakes on future referendums as much as possible,” he said.
O’Malley, who says he is “cautiously” in favor of assisted dying, suggested there might be more opposition to assisted dying than to same-sex marriage or abortion.
“People could say, ‘it doesn’t affect me, so let them do what they want’,” he said. “People, especially older people, might be more inclined to oppose this.”
