Vol. 513 No. 6
284 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children the plans, if any, he has to introduce national procedures for commissioning medical research; and his views on whether the absence of such procedures is affecting the quality of medical research. [3107/00]
Although there are currently no agreed national procedures for commissioning health related research, the Health Research Board in its recently launched consultation document "Making knowledge work for health – Towards a strategy for research and innovation for health" has stated that most of the research that is funded, commissioned or carried out is of a very high quality.
The introduction of national procedures for commissioning medical research is currently under discussion in the context of the HRB's consultation document aimed at developing a national strategy for health research in Ireland. The question of agreeing national procedures for the commissioning of research is one of a number of issues addressed in this document and it puts forward guidelines that could be adopted. The board has invited comments by the end of February 2000 and I recommend that all interested parties make their submissions directly to the HRB as soon as possible.
