Who voted no - and yes - to assisted suicide report in Dáil

Image credit: Marcelo Leal via Unsplash

Last night, a majority of TDs present in the Dáil shamefully voted to accept a report which recommended the legalistion of assisted suicide in Ireland. While this does not mean assisted suicide is lawful, it does give the next government the impetus to bring forward legislation on the issue, though some TDs opposing the measure did argue forcefully that a referendum would be required. 

76 TDs voted in favour, and 53 against, after the three coalition parties allowed a free vote on the issue, on the grounds that it was a matter of conscience. The remaining TDs did not vote or were not present in the Chamber. A full list of who voted YES and NO can be seen below

We clearly have much work to do, though it should be noted at this stage that all of the medical bodies who gave evidence before the Oireachtas Committee who produced the report opposed assisted suicide. 

The Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying, which held its first public meeting in June 2023 after over six months of committee hearings, released its final report last March, which included 38 recommendations geared towards legislation.

Whilst the Committee recommended legislation to allow assisted suicide, not all members of the committee backed the recommendations, with Committee chair Michael Healy-Rae, Robert Troy and Rónán Mullen issuing a minority report at the time. 

The report, which will now be ‘noted’ by the government, recommended that assisted suicide be legislated for in cases where a person with an incurable illness is expected to die within six months, with this being extended to 12 months when a person has been diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease.

It coincides with the Dáil’s passing of the Hate Crime law, in what has been perceived as a final push to pass legislation before the general election.

It is worth noting  that some unexpected voices were raised against assisted suicide in the debate in the Dáil last week. This week, we launch our Vote Pro-Life initiative, but it is clear that on assisted suicide, and on other key issues, we have much work to do. We will face that challenge together. 

Níl

Browne, James.
Burke, Colm.
Burke, Peter.
Butler, Mary.
Byrne, Thomas.
Calleary, Dara.
Canney, Seán.
Collins, Michael.
Collins, Niall.
Coveney, Simon.
Creed, Michael.
Crowe, Cathal.
Devlin, Cormac.
Dillon, Alan.
Durkan, Bernard J.
Feighan, Frankie.
Fitzmaurice, Michael.
Fitzpatrick, Peter.
Flaherty, Joe.
Fleming, Sean.
Foley, Norma.
Grealish, Noel.
Harkin, Marian.
Haughey, Seán.
Healy-Rae, Danny.
Healy-Rae, Michael.
Humphreys, Heather.
Lahart, John.
Lowry, Michael.
MacSharry, Marc.
Madigan, Josepha.
McConalogue, Charlie.
McGrath, Mattie.
McHugh, Joe.
Moynihan, Aindrias.
Moynihan, Michael.
Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
Nolan, Carol.
O'Callaghan, Jim.
O'Connor, James.
O'Dea, Willie.
O'Donnell, Kieran.
O'Donoghue, Richard.
O'Sullivan, Pádraig.
Ó Cuív, Éamon.
Phelan, John Paul.
Rabbitte, Anne.
Ring, Michael.
Smith, Brendan.
Smyth, Niamh.
Stanton, David.
Tóibín, Peadar.
Troy, Robert.

Tá

Andrews, Chris.
Bacik, Ivana.
Barry, Mick.
Boyd Barrett, Richard.
Browne, Martin.
Bruton, Richard.
Buckley, Pat.
Cairns, Holly.
Cannon, Ciarán.
Carroll MacNeill, Jennifer.
Carthy, Matt.
Clarke, Sorca.
Collins, Joan.
Connolly, Catherine.
Conway-Walsh, Rose.
Costello, Patrick.
Cronin, Réada.
Crowe, Seán.
Cullinane, David.
Daly, Pa.
Doherty, Pearse.
Donnelly, Paul.
Donnelly, Stephen.
Duffy, Francis Noel.
Ellis, Dessie.
Farrell, Alan.
Farrell, Mairéad.
Gannon, Gary.
Griffin, Brendan.
Guirke, Johnny.
Heydon, Martin.
Higgins, Emer.
Hourigan, Neasa.
Howlin, Brendan.
Kelly, Alan.
Kenny, Gino.
Kerrane, Claire.
Lawless, James.
Leddin, Brian.
Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
Martin, Catherine.
Matthews, Steven.
McAuliffe, Paul.
McDonald, Mary Lou.
McEntee, Helen.
Munster, Imelda.
Murphy, Catherine.
Murphy, Paul.
Mythen, Johnny.
Naughton, Hildegarde.
Noonan, Malcolm.
O'Brien, Darragh.
O'Brien, Joe.
O'Callaghan, Cian.
O'Dowd, Fergus.
O'Gorman, Roderic.
O'Rourke, Darren.
Ó Broin, Eoin.
Ó Cathasaigh, Marc.
Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
Pringle, Thomas.
Quinlivan, Maurice.
Richmond, Neale.
Ryan, Patricia.
Sherlock, Sean.
Shortall, Róisín.
Smith, Bríd.
Smith, Duncan.
Smyth, Ossian.
Tully, Pauline.
Varadkar, Leo.
Ward, Mark.
Whitmore, Jennifer.
Wynne, Violet-Anne.