Sir, – Marie Fleming’s case has once again put the important issue of assisted suicide before the Irish legislature (Front page, April 30th). It is to the shame of successive Irish governments that this political “hot potato” has dodged and evaded significant public debate for so long. Marcus Aurelius said, “The act of dying is one of the acts of life”. If it continues to sweep the issue of how we deal with the death of our most vulnerable citizens under the rug, our Government will be doing a disservice to the lives of all Irish people. – Yours, etc,
MARK CURRAN,
Darwin College,
Silver Street,
Cambridge,
England.
Sir, – The Supreme Court, in emphatically rejecting Marie Fleming’s appeal, (Front page, April 30th) has followed the only real policy option which it had at its disposal. The safeguards necessary to vindicate her plight require legislation, thus could not have been delineated in the Four Courts.
However, this also means that any meaningful debate on the topic has been stemmed in Ireland. A legislature which has blatantly ignored a Supreme Court mandate to legislate for abortion for 20 years will most certainly ignore a Supreme Court invitation to revisit assisted suicide. – Yours, etc,
NICHOLAS LIDDANE,
Bertram Court,
Christchurch,
Dublin 8.