The new body set up to consider the ethical issues raised by cloning, stem-cell research and genetic screening held its first meeting last week in Dublin. The full membership of the Irish Council for Bioethics has also been revealed.
The Royal Irish Academy set up the council after a request from the Government and will provide a secretariat and meeting place. The council will, however, remain autonomous and independent from the academy, according to the council's chairman, Prof Patrick Fottrell, a former president of NUI Galway.
The full membership of the council, which includes former Attorney-General Mr Dermot Gleeson SC, held its first meeting at the academy late last week. Its 21 members have diverse backgrounds, providing expertise in law, philosophy, ethics, medicine, genetics, food science, microbiology, biochemistry and journalism.
The body will consider the ethical issues raised by new technologies associated with biotechnology and genetic engineering. The council has also been given a role in explaining these technologies to policymakers and the public.
The creation of the council was recommended in October 2000 by the report of the Inter-Departmental Group on Modern Biotechnology. The body will advertise soon for a full-time scientific director and will next meet in June to decide on a programme of work for its planned three-year term.
The body is separate from the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction, set up by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, in February 2000, which continues its examination of new reproduction technologies.
The full council membership is: Prof Fottrell, chair; Prof Patrick Cunningham, TCD; Matt Dempsey, Irish Farmers' Journal; Dr Dolores Dooley, UCC; Dr Margaret Fitzgerald, Food Safety Authority of Ireland; Dr Patrick Flanagan, formerly of the Environmental Protection Agency; Mr Dermot Gleeson SC; Prof Patrick Hannon, St Patrick's College, Maynooth; Dr Kenneth Kearon, Irish School of Ecumenics; Prof Cecily Kelleher, NUI Galway; Dr Mark Lawler, St James's Hospital; Dr Tony McGlennan, Queen's University; Mr Peter McKenna, Rotunda Hospital; Mary Mulvihill, science journalist; Dr Nora O'Brien, UCC; Prof Fergal O'Gara, UCC; Prof Ronan O'Regan, UCD; Prof Anne Scott, DCU; Mr Asim Sheikh, UCD; Prof Sean Strain, University of Ulster; and Prof Peter Whittaker, Lancaster University.