People with a disability are facing euthanasia by stealth should the practice be legalised in Ireland, according to a leading campaigner.

Dr Margaret Kennedy who is a wheelchair user said services are so dire, people with disabilities might give up and accede to assisted suicide rather than chose to fight for a better life.

In a scathing op-ed in the Irish Independent she said: “We are to be ‘culled’ by the back door, ‘encouraged’ to shift off this planet as life becomes unbearable. It is euthanasia by stealth”.

She said that many TDs do not appear to understand ‘assisted dying’ legislation has the potential to erode services, reduce palliative care investment and create a major damaging, psychological impact on vulnerable groups.

She notes that many doctors, and groups representing disabled people and older people, oppose such legislation because of what happened in Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada.

When it’s increasingly hard to lead an active, meaningful life, she said, many who are “not able to hang on will make a choice to die rather than fight”.