Private Notice Questions on Stem Cell Research

To ask the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she intends to support, at an EU Council meeting next week, the provision of EU funds to which Ireland will have contributed, towards the carrying out of research which involves the deliberate ending of the life of human embryos for the purpose of obtaining stem cells for same; and the evidence for her statement that there is a strong risk that the Commission will go ahead with the funding of this sort of research even if the council votes against it.

- John Bruton

For PNQ answer on Tuesday, 25th November, 2003.

To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she will make a statement on the proposal by her to vote at a Council of Ministers meeting on 27 November 2003 in favour of supporting an EU investment programme into embryonic stem cell research.

- Eamon Ryan.

For PNQ answer on Tuesday, 25th November, 2003.

Ref No: 28880/03

To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason she did not consult Dáil Éireann before committing herself to vote in favour of the taxpayer funding human embryo research; and if she will put the issue before Dáil Éireann prior to the Competitiveness Council Meeting on 27 November 2003; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

- Gay Mitchell.

For PNQ answer on Tuesday, 25th November, 2003.

Ref No: 28881/03

To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the position she intends to adopt at the EU Council of Ministers meeting this week in regard to EU funding for and regulation of stem cell research; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

- Brendan Howlin.

For PNQ answer on Tuesday, 25th November, 2003.

Ref No: 28893/03

Reply

It is important to focus on what this proposal is actually about and what it is not about.

It is not about legislating for embryonic stem cell research in Ireland;

And it is not about the funding of that research;

It is about the adoption of stringent guidelines and safeguards to regulate the conduct of research activity in respect of embryonic stem cells. This forms part of the specific programme Life Sciences, Genomics and Biotechnology for Health, within the overall 16 billion EU Framework Programme. Funding of 1.1 billion for adult and embryonic stem cell research was agreed when the Council of Ministers adopted the specific programme over a year ago.

At that time a moratorium on this research was agreed which expires at the end of the year. Member states asked for the moratorium to allow the Commission time to develop guidelines to govern the research. The Commission's proposal is all about those guidelines.

I support the application of strict guidelines and safeguards to regulate this research at European level. I believe that the guidelines which the Commission has produced are comprehensive and include important safeguards.

It is important to understand what can happen if guidelines are not agreed by Council.

Because the Council has already agreed the activity of stem cell research and the line of funding attaching to it, there is no reason why the European Commission should not seek to pursue that activity once the current moratorium expires at the end of the year, even if no guidelines are agreed in respect of embryonic cells. Many member states have the requisite legal and ethical regulatory regimes in place to permit such research and are strongly supportive of concerted European research being undertaken in this field.

Following the opinion of the European Parliament, the matter was recently discussed at working group level in Brussels. In those discussions, the EU Council Legal Services confirmed that the Commission has a duty to implement the measure, even if no guidelines are agreed.

It is therefore open to the Commission to bring forward a programme of action via the established Comitology procedures initiated via the relevant Framework Programme Regulatory Committee.

Ultimately, if the regulatory committee rejects the Commission proposal to act, the matter would revert to Council where, in this instance, a qualified majority would be required to reject it. Given that the majority of member states have indicated that they wish this research to proceed, there is every reason to believe that a Commission proposal emerging via this route would be adopted.

However, there is no guarantee that such a proposal would be based on the guidelines as currently drafted. The fact that the European Parliament has voted in favour of liberalising the guidelines by removing the "cut off date" which restricts activity under the programme to embryos created before 27 June 2002 for IVF treatments and no longer required for that purpose underscores this danger.

Against this background, I believe the Commission's proposal establishes coherent, consistent and stringent guidelines and safeguards to govern Community funding of research taking place only in those member states where it is legal and deemed ethical.

I would like to stress again that it explicitly respects the positions of those member states whose legal and ethical regimes forbid such research.

We must not miss this opportunity to put in place controls, guidelines and parameters for the conduct of this research. It would be a very unsatisfactory outcome if Ireland were to oppose the current guidelines and thereby contribute to a situation where European research in this area would go ahead in an unregulated or more loosely regulated fashion.

In regard to the Deputy Mitchell's question, I would reiterate that the funds in question are Community funds. Framework Programme funds come from Community resources collected and distributed under the legal framework of the EU Treaties. This pooling of resources is fundamental to all democratic institutions.

As regards, the matter of consultation, the Commission's proposal is for a Council Decision on the application of guidelines and safeguards in relation to human embryonic stem cell research. No new legislation is involved and the matter of funding is not at issue as this has been previously decided.

The European Communities Scrutiny Act does not specifically require that draft Council Decisions be submitted for scrutiny. Nevertheless, my Department was happy to brief the Scrutiny Sub Committee, chaired by Deputy Mitchell and to further brief the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business on the dossier. Seanad Eireann has also heard statements on the matter. I would also recall to the House that I indicated my willingness to speak in person to both committee's and the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business. However, I have not been asked to speak to those committees.

I appreciate that the matter of embryonic stem cell research is an emotive issue on which members of this House have strong views. However, it is essential that we do not let those views obscure what is at issue her.

There has been a tendency in some quarters to address the European Commission proposal as if it were legislating for embryonic stem cell research in Ireland. I would stress that it is doing precisely the opposite. The proposal is reinforcing the principle of ethical subsidiarity and guaranteeing that the Community-supported research will not be undertaken in any member state where it is not legal or deemed ethical.

Having made that guarantee, it is then providing for stringent guidelines and safeguards to underpin concerted European research only in those member states where it is legal and deemed ethical - and then only when the researchers in question have explored all possible alternatives to their planned approach to the research.

Given that what is at issue here is the application of strict safeguards and guidelines. I would conclude a Chathaoirelach by stressing again that it would be a very unsatisfactory outcome if Ireland were to oppose the current guidelines and thereby contribute to a situation where European research in this area would go ahead in an unregulated or more loosely regulated fashion.

ENDS/ETE 1165