Irish journalist Nell McCafferty offered to help her former long-term partner, author and journalist Nuala O'Faolain, end her life after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

McCafferty made the revelation in an interview on TV3, the Independent TV station in Ireland.

"I did offer Nuala euthanasia," says McCafferty in the interview. “I said ‘I’ve got morphine in place, I’ve got it stashed around Ireland. The minute you want to overdose, let me know.’"

O’Faolain decided not to accept her former lover’s offer.

"She said ‘no, no, the hospice people will take care of me when the time comes with drugs.’ Nuala held on till the very end."

In the same interview, set to air on Monday in Ireland, McCafferty admits that she is willing to offer any one of her friends who fall ill the option of ending their life option before the pain becomes unbearable.

"It’s the first thing I offer people the minute they’re sick. I say: ‘would you like me to give you an overdose?’ I’m surprised the number of people who insist on living."

McCafferty’s comments comes at a time in the United States when a movie about Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the GP known as Dr. Death, who served eight years in prison for physician assisted suicide, came out on HBO.

When McCafferty was asked if she feared the repercussions of helping someone kill themselves, she had this to say: "But sure who’s going to know?" before adding, "Prove it!"