Commission members received wide range of submissions
Commission chairwoman Professor Dervilla Donnelly said the members did begin their discussions before being assigned a base in July 2001 but added: “It was hard to keep in contact using one’s own telephone at home.”
When the commission, which included academics and legal and medical experts, were finally given the facilities to begin their work in earnest, they divided into separate working groups to focus on different aspects of their terms of reference.
Under those terms they were tasked with preparing a report on “the possible approaches to the regulation of all aspects of assisted human reproduction and the social, ethical and legal factors to be taken into account in determining public policy in this area”.
The commission began a wide-reaching consultation process, hearing the views of 492 GPs, eight out of the country’s nine fertility clinics, obstetricians, gynaecologists, the National Infertility Support and Information Group, international experts and the public at large.
Written submissions were invited from the public and 1,700 were received, although 900 of these were in the form of signatures on two statements drawn up and distributed by just two lobby groups.
The views of philosophical, theological and legal experts were also sought.
While coming from different backgrounds and disciplines, the commission members adopted a common attitude to their work, starting from the basis that infertility can be very traumatic, depressing and isolating for people who want children, and that assisted human reproduction is a positive development.
Prof Donnelly stressed, however, that: “The commission did not attempt to act as the arbiter of public morals.”
