A special Oireachtas Committee on “dying with dignity” will be set up in the New Year following the death of Vicky Phelan.
The CervicalCheck campaigner died on Monday following her long battle with cancer.
She had long called for assisted dying to be put in place for those with terminal illnesses.
Speaking at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis on Friday evening, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that an Oireachtas Committee looking at the issue could be set up either before the Dáil’s Christmas break or in the New Year.
“Complicated issues like this do need to be teased out in order to do them well,” he said.
“You can only have so many special committees running at any one time. At the moment we have the one on gender equality following on from the Citizens Assembly, one on autism and also a third one on surrogacy, which has just finished up,
“With the ones on surrogacy and gender equality kind of finishing up now, there's an opportunity I think to establish that [special committee on surrogacy].”
“If we don't get it done by the Christmas recess, we should certainly have it up and running in the first session next year.
“That would be our intention.
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