Dr Paddy Leahy, the doctor who has been involved in at least 50 cases of euthanasia, has travelled to Thailand where he says he intends to end his own life.
Dr Leahy's decision has been known for some time to a circle of friends and relatives. Before he left he told The Irish Times he had cancer which had been operated on but which had returned.
He has been visiting Thailand for more than 20 years and regards it as his second home.
Dr Leahy said he has been directly involved in 50 cases of euthanasia and that in the past couple of years he has referred "scores" of other people to doctors who would be willing to help them die. There is at least one such doctor in every county in Ireland, he said.
Dr Leahy spoke to The Irish Times a few days before he left for Thailand. He also recorded an interview for Tonight with Vincent Browne which was broadcast on RTE Radio One last night.
Two years ago Dr Leahy revealed that many years earlier he had helped a friend to die after a massive stroke.
Since then, he said, he had had many calls from people who wanted him to help them die.
His attitude to performing euthanasia on a person who was suffering and who wanted help to die was that "it isn't a question of law, of theology, or of anything else, it's a question of do I, Paddy Leahy, am I capable of walking away? Maybe somebody else is - that's his problem. I can't walk away, not if you put me in Mountjoy."
He believed the issue should be left to the "common sense" of doctors and their patients rather than being brought in by law.
"My life is mine," he declared. "It doesn't belong to Bertie Ahern or any theologian or anybody else, and dying is part of your living."
On his decision to die rather than have surgery he said: "Emotionally I'm fragile and I've decided that it's the best way."