It follows yesterday's gathering outside Leinster House in protest
Doctors who support assisted dying have continued to call for it's legalisation.
It follows yesterday's (2 November) gathering outside Leinster House in protest, which coincided with World Right to Die Day.
There are calls for assisted dying to be recognised as a civic right, and is fully legal in a number of US states and 13 countries, including Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
The previous Oireachtas had set up a Joint Committee on Assisted Dying, which released a report in 2024 recommending the Government legislate for voluntary assisted dying.
However, that report expired after the most recent general election.
Irish Doctors supporting Medical Assistance in dying say, in a country where it's legal, one in 20 people who are nearing the end of their life have an assisted death.
Yesterday's protest gathered 30 to 40 people, according to Medical Director with Kildare and West Wicklow Doctors on duty, Dr Brendan O' Shea.
Speaking on Kildare Today, Dr O' Shea said the group "weren't best pleased with our politicians" as only a small number engaged with the protestors yesterday:
"We're not best pleased with our politicians to be honest, some did come out to engage. We're increasingly aware that Ireland is an outlier as not having a voluntarily assisted dying available as a choice at the end of the life, subject to evaluation and monitoring as a civic right, a choice that people in Ireland should have."
He added that "our legislators aren't keeping up" when compared to other countries such as the Netherlands and Portugal who do have such legislation in place.
Dr O' Shea remarked that polling indicates a "significant majority of the Irish electorate" is in support of the legalisation, adding that only a small nunber "seriously consider" the option of assisted dying:
"What we notice is that most people who are likely to avail of this, about one in 10 will seriously consider it, and of those about half will actually avail of it, and that seems to be a fixed figure across all of the systems.
"In Canada, 326,000 died last year, and 17,000 opted for medical assistance dying, based on evaluation to strict criteria and supervised by multiple health officials involved," he concluded.
The full interview can be heard below:
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