Judge says ruling 'a matter for Oireachtas'
Thursday November 16 2006
Mr Justice Brian McGovern said this is a matter for the Oireachtas, or for the people in the event that a constitutional amendment is put before them.
The absence of any rules or regulations governing IVF treatment in Ireland means that embryos outside the womb "have a very precarious existence", Mr Justice McGovern warned.
While it was a matter for the Oireachtas to decide whether to implement the recommendations of the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction, the courts were being asked in the frozen embryos case to deal with "a complex dispute involving social issues which should be governed by a regulatory regime established by an Act of the Oireachtas".
He said the Government had in 2002 established the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction (CAHR) to make recommendations in the area of IVF practices. That body's first unanimous recommendation was that a regulatory body should be established by an Act of the Oireachtas to regulate assisted human reproduction facilities in Ireland.
A majority of the Commission had also recommended that the embryo formed by IVF should not attach legal protection until placed in the human body, he said.
