A link between the governing body of UCC which voted in favour of embryo research and the Irish Council for Bioethics (ICB) has been revealed. Barrister Dermot Gleeson, who is Chairman of the UCC body was also chair of the ICB until March 2007. The ICB’s report supporting research on embryonic human life caused Youth Defence to describe the report of being “ignorant of both science and ethics”.

The ICB were accused of “ignoring current scientific developments and the results of its own public consultation in promoting its own unethical and partisan views”. It declared that the human embryo was nor deserving of full moral status.

‘This is a deplorable assertion,’ said Eoghan de Faoite of Youth Defence, who had given an oral submission to the ICB opposing lethal embryo research. “It flies in the face of the newest scientific developments and remains doggedly fixed to an ideological, unscientific position from which the rest of the world has moved on.”

The ICB acted in a crassly undemocratic fashion by choosing to ignore the results of its own public consultations which showed that 70% of Irish people opposed research on human embryos, while 65 per cent said they would be unwilling to use medical treatments that were developed using embryonic stem cells.

“The vote on this deplorable proposal to allow embryo research in UCC always seemed carefully choreographed,” said Carolyn Johnston of Youth Defence. “Now we can see that the persons involved seemed to be appointed (with careful timing in mind) to ensure UCC would adopt this proposal”. Ms Johnston questioned the political agenda driving events at UCC and said that it was imperative that Youth Defence’s campaign succeed in reversing the decision.

As the Pheonix (who revealed the link), queried, would the vote in UCC have had a different outcome without Mr Gleeson’s not chaired the body?

Mr Gleeson has been embroiled in controversy before, having advised Michael Noonan as Health Minister to drag Bridget McCole, a mother of nine who had been infected by the State with Hepititis C, through the courts in an extended contest of her right to be compensated. The country was outraged and Noonan’s political career dived.

Source : TruthTV


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