The Oireachtas Joint Committee on assisted suicide held its first meeting, in private session, last night.

TDs and Senators will decide next week whether public hearings will begin in May or September.

The Committee must issue a final report within nine months of the first public session.

It is expected that next week’s meeting, also on Tuesday evening, will decide on whether to seek a change in its terms of reference.

Independent Senator Rónán Mullen is understood to have made a presentation suggesting the terms of reference explicitly state that it is open to the Committee to recommend no change to the existing law.

The Committee will also consider whether its title should be changed to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Assisted Suicide.

The terms of reference state that the committee will consider all “relevant considerations arising from the provision of a statutory right to provide assistance to a person to end their life and the statutory right to receive such assistance”.