A group to monitor and advise on genetic innovations is to be set up by the Government in response to public concerns over the ethical questions raised by scientific advances.
It will be responsible for reviewing developments in genetics and advising the public and politicians on appropriate responses. The Department of Enterprise is currently discussing the body's proposed structure and membership with the Royal Irish Academy. Its operation is likely to be overseen by the RIA, and it will have 15 to 20 representatives from the fields of legal medicine, genetics and ethics.
There have been growing ethical concerns worldwide at the pace of genetic research, particularly in relation to cloning and the remarkable but controversial stem-cell technology. There are also fears surrounding the use of genetic information, for insurance purposes, for example, and there has been some criticism of the delay in regulating these areas. Ireland is one of the last EU states without a bioethics advisory body.
A Government biotechnology advisory panel specifically recommended the establishment of a bioethics committee in a report published this year.
Bowing to increasing public pressure, Britain became one of the first Western countries to ban human cloning earlier this year. However, it stopped short of banning therapeutic cloning, which involves the use of stem cells from human embryos, which are reproduced to develop gene therapies for diseases such as Parkinson's and diabetes.
This research, though it has potentially huge benefits, raises particular problems in the Republic, where there is a constitutional protection for unborn embryos, and it has been condemned by the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life.
Green Party MEP Ms Nuala Ahern, who has been strongly critical of some applications of genetic research and recently called for the complete banning of all forms of human cloning, has said the council would be "a positive move" but warned it should include "those who have a coherent dissenting voice on biotechnology" to be credible.
She has called for the new council to make a cloning ban an immediate priority, saying: "It's absolutely imperative that that should be the first thing they should be looking at. The UK are allowing embryos to be used up to 14 days, but I think we should ban all forms of experimentation on humans." Among those expected to be included on the bioethics council, Mr Asim Sheikh, a practising barrister, lecturer and author specialising in human genetics law, welcomed the move to set up the advisory body.
"This is all very, very new in Ireland. A huge number of issues need to be considered, particularly genetic discrimination and gene patenting," he said, adding that the US's proactive approach to patenting genetic products was forcing the EU to act quickly to catch up.
The RIA, which promotes study in the sciences and humanities, currently has two committees working in the areas of biochemistry, genetics and biology.