The debate about the ethical, moral and scientific value of vivisection may have died down in recent years, but the practice has not gone away.
Last year 138 cats, 153 dogs, 26,795 mice and 21,591 rats were among the live animals experimented on in universities and laboratories across the State.
Add 2,000 cattle, 255 sheep and 20,218 fish to this controversial menagerie and it amounts to almost 75,000 creatures experimented on by Irish scientists last year, according to Department of Health figures. The purpose of such procedures varies from the development of vital drugs for use by dentists, doctors and vets to research into the diagnosis of fatal diseases.
That vivisection continues, with virtually no public or political debate, is a source of frustration for the State's animal rights campaigners.
The Irish Anti Vivisection Society maintains that experimentation on animals is ethically and morally wrong but it has also questioned what it calls the "veil of secrecy" that surrounds the practice in Ireland.
Details of exactly which universities, hospitals, research institutes and commercial establishments are involved in the practice are confidential. A source in the Department of Health said this was to safeguard against action by more militant anti-vivisection campaigners.
The IAVS maintains that the public is largely unaware that dogs and cats, for example, are used in such experiments and that many would be horrified to find out.
And despite the fact that vivisection is governed by strict legislation - the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 - and internal codes of ethics in institutions - some are concerned that once animals are in a laboratory they are at the mercy of scientists.
"It is happening all the time," claimed Mr Ruarc Gahan of the IAVS, "The controls are notorious for being breached. I have seen so much terrible video footage that you wouldn't know where to start.
"Our policy is that animals should not be used for these purposes . . . if vivisection was banned tomorrow you may be certain that those involved would very quickly find non-animal alternatives and technologies," he said.
The scientific community reacts by saying that certain experiments are essential if new medicines are to be developed and tested.
One scientific source, who in the past had been involved in vivisection, said it was difficult for many in the community who have a "huge respect and love for animals".
However, he added, "The general view of society and of the authorities is that we are correct in valuing human lives as more important than the lives of animals. It is just not possible to substitute other methods of experimentation," he said.
"While research on animals is necessary the use of appropriate anaesthetics and analgesics and attention to the environment of the animal while not on test should obviate the need for suffering," said Dr Paddy Sheridan, the director of the bio-medical facility in UCD.
The two main issues, he added, are the welfare of animals and the number of animals that are sacrificed during vivisection. A veterinarian, Dr Sheridan holds a certificate in Welfare Ethics and Law and calls for a logical and consistent approach to the arguments.
He maintained that when not on tests, lab animals are often better cared for than many pets. "A lot of the people that argue against vivisection don't have any problems with the slaughter of millions of farm animals for food," said Dr Sheridan, a vegetarian.
In UCD, experiments are carried out on animals to increase our knowledge of diseases such as Alzheimer's and schizophrenia. Research into cystic fibrosis involves giving rats a fatal overdose of anaesthetic in order to remove the respiratory tract on which in vitro research is then carried out. An EU Commission Directive in 1994 introduced an amendment to the 1876 legislation which calls for the three Rs - the reduction of procedures involving animals, the refinement of such techniques and the replacement of sentient animals with non-sentient alternatives.
But while anti-vivisectionists welcome any such reductions, they continue to oppose the practice. Mr Trevor Sargent of the Green Party believes that with all the ingenuity available to us as a race "we should be able to do away with animal suffering".
The public should also be allowed to know what exactly goes on in laboratories. "We are entitled to know . . . it should not be shrouded in secrecy because of commercial sensitivities," he said.