I have the utmost respect for Barry Walker's views and that is why I said 'most”. Informal polls suggest that he is one of the approximately thirty-five per cent of our population who oppose voluntary euthanasia and that is what democracy is all about. However the other sixty-five per cent have a right which is not currently being given consideration. I was misled because he did not use the adjective 'voluntary” - a word the church opposition usually omit.
In reply to Hylton Rhodes - corrupt foreign church? Foreign? Well Head Office and the CEO are in Europe. Corrupt? Apparently Hylton does not read the Irish newspapers on line, because he would see the criticism of the Cardinal there for his reluctance to investigate the paedophile priests in his diocese. And let's not even get into the Banco Ambrosiano affair.
My views may be coloured because, probably as a penance for my sins, I served almost two years in Northern Ireland, much of it in 'tiger country” along the border. There I was an unwilling witness to the spectacle of two thuggish religious groups engaging in unchristian activities. Fortunately I was out of there decades before the priest- organised bombing in Claudy. (Nine dead. Priest promptly transferred across the border.)
Dutch acquaintances of mine who go back 'home” every two years tell me that voluntary euthanasia there is not a problem. These horror stories about the genocide of terrified old ladies are part of church-inspired fiction to discredit it.

John Wightman, Avenues.