Madam, – I am surprised and disappointed at the Government decision to cease funding for the Irish Council for Bioethics. At the very beginning of the 21st century, advances in technology make science fiction ordinary – it is now possible to create, engineer and lengthen human life; to create “transhumans”. It is imperative that the Irish public has an opportunity to consider the implications of such advances.
The council is an independent body that has, since its inception, provided a focus for reasoned and informed consideration of a range of ethical issues that arise in healthcare and research. To lose the opportunities for reflection and discussion that the council makes possible is a retrograde step and Irish society will be all the poorer for it.
Democratic societies do not come about overnight; they are forged through the work that generations of people engage in to deepen their understanding of what it is to share a common humanity. The work of the council is precisely this kind of work; its demise will likely not affect election outcomes, but it will impact on the healthy development of a nation that is still, from a democratic point of view, in its infancy.
– Yours, etc,