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Mother and Child Campaign have welcomed the “very positive response” to their newspaper adverts opposing euthanasia. The striking and hard-hitting message was that “Euthanasia targets the sick and the elderly. Find out where your politicians stand on this sick practice.”

The advert featured a hand holding a needle with the strap: LETHAL INJECTION and spelled out the danger of euthanasia - of targeting the most vulnerable people in our society. It warns against the kind of thinking that sees sick or elderly people and premature babies as a “waste of resources”

Niamh Uí Bhriain said that the advert was the first crucial step in a whole new programme planned opposing euthanasia. “Together we’ve stopped the legalisation of abortion, and held back stem cell research. Now we need to bring that same determination to act against the threat of euthanasia,” she said.

And she warned that otherwise “the time will come when every elderly person in a hospital bed can be a target. Every person with a serious illness could be a candidate for lethal injection.

The M&CC spokeswoman said that the advert was placed in key national and local newspapers, urging voters in the upcoming election to make euthanasia an issue. “We were very encouraged by the response,” she said, “It underlines the need to deal with this issue, in an urgent and comprehensive fashion.

The newspaper advert read as follows:

EUTHANASIA TARGETS THE SICK AND THE ELDERLY. FIND OUT WHERE YOUR POLITICIAN STANDS ON THIS SICK PRACTICE.

Everyone knows the health service is a mess. Some say it couldn’t get any worse.

But when the HSE sponsors a lecture on “Why Euthanasia should be legalised” the alarms bells go off. Euthanasia has no place in our health system. The people we love deserve better. So what’s the HSE playing at? Do they favour killing off the sick and the elderly? Is this a plan to cut costs?

Euthanasia supporters see seriously ill and elderly people as a “waste of resources”. And that view is getting more extreme. In Britain, calls are now being made to introduce involuntary euthanasia where patients are killed – without their consent.

Irish doctors have warned against the slippery slope euthanasia brings – and they say it will be the poor and the vulnerable who will suffer. But are our politicians listening?

In this election ask your candidate where they stand on euthanasia. Then vote to protect the sick, the elderly and the vulnerable.