Former Alliance councillor asks MPs to reconsider vote against Assisted Dying Bill

James Martin McCarthy
·3-min read
Gavin Walker, chair of My Death My Decision NI
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


A former Alliance Party councillor who heads up the assisted dying campaign group My Death, My Decision in Northern Ireland has called on MPs to reconsider voting against the Assisted Dying Bill when it comes before Parliament on Friday.

The bill, which would see terminally ill people have the ability to opt for an assisted death in certain circumstances is set to be opposed by the majority of MPs from Northern Ireland with only the SDLP's Claire Hanna and Colum Eastwood yet to declare how they intend to vote on the bill.

While the bill would not affect change in the law in Northern Ireland as it is a devolved issue, Gavin Walker said that it should start the conversation around assisted dying in the region.

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"For me, this is a human rights issue. I n the European Convention of Human Rights they talk about people having the right to a good life, and by implication, that also means they have a right to a good death," he told Belfast Live.

"At the moment, the law that we have in place does not provide for that. Should you get to the stage where you're terminally ill and you're in great difficulty or pain, you have no option but to just carry on through whatever palliative care might be available to you, which very often is good enough. But sometimes it's not a nd so I believe that people who want to have an assisted death at that point should be allowed to opt for that."

One of the criticisms levelled at the bill is that it could lead to people who are terminally ill feeling like they are a burden to society and that they have no alternative but to opt for an assisted death, a criticism which Mr Walker says there is no evidence to support.

"Since it was brought to being in Switzerland back in the 1940s and throughout that time, there's no suggestion that people opt for an assisted death because they are a burden to their family.

"It may be part of their decision-making, but in fact, by the law, it can't be the only reason for them having assisted death.

"I don't think I think a lot of people will feel like they are a burden to the family."

Earlier this year, My Death My Decision commissioned a poll through LucidTalk which showed 65 per cent of respondents in Northern Ireland were in favour of assisted dying legislation being introduced in Northern Ireland.

"Two-thirds of people here want to see this being brought forward," he continued. "They also want a big conversation about it because they understand that there needs to be all kinds of criteria put in place a discussion on how to protect people against coercion, et cetera.

"There's a conversation to be had in Northern Ireland on a political basis and a formalised political basis and at the moment it just isn't being addressed at all."

Appealing directly to Northern Ireland's MPs, Gavin Walker implored them to abstain from voting if they cannot vote in favour of the legislation on Friday.

"I appreciate this is not an easy issue to deal with, and I understand that entirely. However, the people of England and Wales have said they want to have this conversation, and I'm not entirely sure that MPs from Northern Ireland should take it upon themselves to disenfranchise those people of that opportunity.

"If Northern Irish MPs are unable to bring themselves to vote for this particular bill, t hen I think the morally correct thing to do is to abstain and allow that bill to go on to the committee stage where it will be scrutinised to an inch of its life before being brought back again.

"Whenever it comes back at that stage, they may feel that they may want to support it or not."

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