Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore has said that the Government will look at commissioning an expert report on assisted 
suicide.
Mr Gilmore’s remarks came after a Dublin woman was charged yesterday with assisting in the suicide of a multiple sclerosis sufferer two years ago.
In other countries where euthanasia has been legalised, the grounds under which euthanasia is permitted has been steadily widened.
Belgium is currently considering permitting allowing euthanasia for children and dementia sufferers.
Speaking in the Dáil today, Mr Gilmore said that a suggestion made by Independent TD Stephen Donnelly to look at producing such a report was “a very positive suggestion’’.
He said he agreed that members of the House should deal with the issue as legislators.
Mr Donnelly, a TD for Wicklow, raised the issue of Marie Fleming, who lost a Supreme Court challenge to the constitutionality of the Act prohibiting assisted suicide.
The High Court had previously ruled that the law banning assisted suicide was justified under the Constitution to protect the most vulnerable in society.
Belgium had a record number of 1,432 cases of euthanasia in 2012, up 25pc from the previous year.
A recent Canadian report, No Second Chances, published by the Institute for Marriage and Family suggests that that once assisted suicide or euthanasia are legalised, the once-selective criteria expand to include more and more people.
According to the report, in Oregon, where assisted suicide was legalised in 1997, the number of deaths by assisted suicide has doubled since 2005. Prescriptions for a poisonous cocktail to kill patients have grown by 76pc over the same period.
In Washington, where assisted suicide was legalised in 2009, between 2009 and 2012, the number of deaths by assisted suicide grew 130pc.
In the Netherlands, the number of deaths by euthanasia has increased by 64pc between 2005 and 2010.
Mr Donnelly said that while he agreed the case of a Dublin woman charged with assisting in a suicide could not be discussed since it was before the courts, the Dáil should be able to debate the issue.
Mr Gilmore said that he could not comment on the case before the courts, and he thought it was best that it conclude before the House discuss assisted suicide.
The case involves Gail O’Rorke (42), from Kilcare Gardens, Tallaght, who has been charged under Section 2 of the Criminal Law (suicide) Act 1993.
She is charged with aiding and abeting or counselling or procuring the suicide of Bernadette Forde (51) from Morehampton Mews in Dublin
Ms Forde was in the final stages of multiple sclerosis and had been found dead at her apartment on June 6th, 2011. A coroner’s inquest into the cause of her death has been adjourned.
It is alleged that Ms O’Rorke carried out the offence between March 10th and June 6th, 2011.