"It’s about actually having a proactive regulatory framework versus a reactive one" - stakeholder perspectives on the governance of embryonic stem cell research in Ireland

Over the past 20 years, the ethical concerns associated with embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) have been the source of great debate. Due to the promise of ESCR, many jurisdictions have introduced regulations to govern it. Despite this, Irish policymakers have failed to introduce legislation to regulate ESCR and embryo research. Successive calls for legislation were ignored until the publication of the General Scheme of the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill 2017 in October 2017. Although the publication of the Heads of this Bill is welcomed, there have been no attempts to assess the current regulatory framework and its impact on the development of stem cell research in Ireland. To address this vacuum, empirical research was conducted with scientists, regulators and funders to explore the current regulatory framework in Ireland. This paper reports on and discusses the findings of these interviews and critically reviews the 2017 Bill.

The author's accepted manuscript is included in this repository with permission from Medico-Legal Journal of Ireland. The article ((2018) 24(2) Medico-Legal Journal of Ireland 97–105.) is published in final form by Thomson Reuters (Professional) Ireland Limited.