Former minister John Halligan has said he helped people travel to Switzerland to access assisted suicide and would do so again.

The former Independent Alliance TD also called on politicians to finish the work he started on a bill that would legalise assisted suicide.

In 2015 Mr Halligan introduced the “Dying with Dignity” bill but it stalled after the government collapsed the following year.

Gino Kenny, the People Before Profit TD, has now introduced the same bill.

If passed, it would give people with incurable and progressive illnesses the right to a legal assisted suicide if they are likely to die within six months. At the moment, assisted suicide is a crime in Ireland which is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Mr Halligan said he believed “conservative elements” in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil would try to block assisted suicide.

He added that the Irish Catholic Church would also staunchly oppose such a change, and that “religious” arguments would be involved.

“Would a God want to inflict unnecessary suffering on someone? I don’t believe in God, but I think that if there was a God, he or she would not want that,” he said.