The High Court has been told that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will not give terminally-ill woman Marie Fleming a 'roadmap' on how to evade prosecution for assisted suicide.
Paul O'Higgins, SC, for the DPP has acknowledged Marie Fleming's 'situation is appalling' but he said the director was being asked 'how to commit a crime without getting prosecuted'.
He said it is not the role of the director to give guidelines on when charges may be brought under Section 2.2 of the 1993 Criminal Law Suicide Act.
Mr. O'Higgins submitted it was the Oireachtas who made assisted suicide a crime and that it is not for the DPP to devise a series of exceptions to the legislation.
Request for DPP guidelines
It is the 3rd day of the Constitutional challenge by Marie Fleming to the law on assisted suicide before 3 judges of the High Court including High Court President Nicholas Kearns.
The former UCD lecturer is paralysed from multiple sclerosis and needs assistance to fulfil her wish of dying in the arms of her partner Tom Curran at their home in Arklow in Co. Wicklow.
The 58-year-old fears that as the law stands her loved ones could be jailed for up to 14 years if they are found to have helped her take her life.
If the Divisional Court refuses her bid to strike down the law Marie Fleming is asking that the judges direct the DPP to issues guidelines on when it may decide to press charges for assisted suicide.
