Assisted dying legislation must be careful to only target 'incredibly limited circumstances', Shane Coleman has said ahead of a Dáil vote this evening.

Last March, the Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying recommended that assisted dying be made available in Ireland in extremely limited circumstances.

Tonight's vote will not see any laws changed for now – but it is viewed as an important indicator of potential Dáil support for the idea.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, presenter Ciara Kelly said legislation on the issue “has to be crafted in an incredibly careful way”.

A young woman holding the hand of an old woman in a hospital bed, in black and white. Photo: Casual -T / Alamy Stock Photo. 29 March 2018

“I think all life - wherein as far as possible – should be protected," she said. "But I think, to alleviate suffering in terminally ill patients, there are acts that could be taken where we might hasten somebody’s death in order to avoid suffering.

“There has to be so many caveats because there is that fear – and it’s a genuine fear – that the right to die would become a duty to die; that people might feel like a burden and take themselves out of a situation."

Statistics

Co-presenter Shane Coleman said the idea of assisted dying “makes me nervous”.

“I worry about the slippery slope in relation to this - [in] the Netherlands for example, last year, 9,000 people died through euthanasia.

“That's the equivalent of 3,000 people here.

“5% of all deaths last year in the Netherlands were from euthanasia: People who were not terminally ill, people who were very young, who would have lived for many years.

"I am really, really nervous about where this will bring us.”

Across the world, 10 countries have legalised assisted dying in various forms.

Main image: Shane Coleman in the Newstalk studio. Image: Newstalk