Vol. 451 No. 5
73 Mr. M. Kitt asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if a committee of Ministers will discuss the draft convention on bioethics; if the views of the Department of Health will be considered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6973/95]
The "Draft Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Bioethics Convention" has been in preparation by a Council of Europe Steering Committee on Bioethics (CDBI) over the last three years. Ireland is represented on this committee by a senior officer of the Department of Health.
The drafting of the convention reflects a general concern that new biomedical advances should be the subject of universal guidelines. The text covers all medical and biological applications concerning human beings. Considerable work remains to be done on this convention. I do not anticipate that it will come before the Committee of Ministers for some time.
It is understood that the present draft of the convention will undergo further revision and will be examined by the steering committee on bioethics in the coming months.
