For a country with a strong history of human rights, Ireland tends to shy away from legislating on most issues pertaining to bioethics. Although there is a bill on human tissue regulation in the works, it is heavily based upon existing human tissue legislation in the United Kingdom. The only current legislation regulating human tissue comes in the form of two statutory instruments which implement the European Union Tissue Directive [1] and its two accompanying technical directives. The fact that the two pieces of regulation are statutory instruments, as opposed to primary legislation, is significant. While primary legislation goes through the parliamentary process, including debates, statutory instruments are simply signed into law by the relevant minister.

There is currently no legal regulation in Ireland on assisted human reproduction, covering areas such as in vitro fertilisation and embryonic stem cell research. The Human Tissue Bill also does not address embryos or gametes, so there is no legal regulation on the horizon. Following a recent Supreme Court decision on the legal status of frozen embryos, Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney said that she would bring proposals to the Government to allow for the drafting of legislation in the area of assisted human reproduction. [2] A Government spokesman said following the Supreme Court trial “The Government fully accepts its responsibility to put proposals to the Oireachtas for legislation to regulate assisted human reproduction,” [3]

There is also the question to why Ireland, a country with a strong legal and human rights tradition, falls behind other countries in relation to handling ethical issues .[4] One explanation put forth is that the dominance of the Catholic Church and a general lack of scientific debate are root causes of the lack of Irish regulation.[5] A study conducted in 2005 on the public perceptions of the general population in Ireland on biomedical research found the highest levels of approval for stem cell research using adult human tissues (49%) and cloning human cells to combat disease (42%).[6] Conversely, the study found that the highest levels of disapproval were for the development of genetically modified foods (52%) and stem cell research using human embryos (34%).[7] It is important to note that a significant minority, ranging from one quarter to one-third of the participants, were undecided about each of these issues.[8] It would be difficult to incorporate these findings into regulation as there is not a single issue where a majority of those surveyed approved of the type of research. The reason for the high percentage of people being undecided may have something to do with a lack of bioethics education in Ireland and an absence from a wider public debate.

The underlying reason behind the absence of regulation of human tissue in Ireland is a lack of political will. No existing human tissue legislation in Ireland has originated in the Oireachtas, nor has gone through the legislative process or debates. Although the Human Tissue Bill shows promise, it has yet to pass. As a result, the regulations in place are not specifically tailored for Irish needs, from an Irish standpoint.

The saying that “all politics are local” truly applies in Ireland. Many politicians do not see the merit in initiating or supporting any sort of bioethics-related regulation, for fear that it may harm their electability. While there may be a few votes to be gained supporting human tissue regulation, there are far more to be lost. It also may be difficult for people to make distinctions between regulations for research on human tissues, and embryonic stem cell research – a highly controversial topic. Along the same lines, following long and bitter debates surrounding various abortion referenda and high profile court cases, both politicians and members of the public may be weary of approaching any areas that may require revisiting that debate. However, the results of a small public opinion survey indicate that the Irish public may not be as conservative as politicians think. For example, 82% of people surveyed said that surplus embryos should be used for medical research into disease, even if that means they will be destroyed.[9] Furthermore, 53% of those surveyed either agree or strongly agree that the Irish Government should provide funding for embryonic stem cell research.[10]

Another possibility is that with the fluctuating economy in Ireland over the past two decades, there have been other issues seen to be more urgent to legislate on than the regulation of human tissues.

While overregulation may also be detrimental to the scientific and research communities, having no existing legal regulations is also risky. While things like embryonic stem cell research is not legal, it is also not illegal. This creates a complicated legal situation, and the longer areas in bioethics are left unregulated, the more difficult it will be to successfully regulate this field in the future.

References

1. http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:102:0048:0058:en:PDF
2. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/1216/breaking18.html
3. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/1216/breaking18.html
4. Barrington, Ruth. “Terrible Beauty or Celtic Mouse? The Research Agenda in Ireland.” New Hibernia Review. Vol. 6, 2002, p. 147.
5. Barrington, Ruth. “Terrible Beauty or Celtic Mouse? The Research Agenda in Ireland.” New Hibernia Review. Vol. 6, 2002, p. 147.
6. Cousins Grainne et al. Public Perception of biomedical research: a survey of the general population of Ireland. Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, June 2005, p. 38.
7. Cousins Grainne et al. Public Perception of biomedical research: a survey of the general population of Ireland. Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, June 2005, p. 38.
8. Cousins Grainne et al. Public Perception of biomedical research: a survey of the general population of Ireland. Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, June 2005, p. 38.
9. Irish Council for Bioethics. Bioethics Research. September 2005, p. 34. http://www.bioethics.ie/uploads/docs/129171-Bioethics%20Research.pdf
10. Irish Council for Bioethics. Bioethics Research. September 2005, p. 36.

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	Bioethical Regulations in Ireland: Where are they? pdf