The Catholic bishops' Bioethics Commission wrote to then minister for health Micheál Martin 18 months ago expressing concern about new legislation governing clinical trials.
Under the legislation, which was intended to bring Ireland into line with EU regulations, once such a trial is approved at one of a number of centres around the State, it is deemed to have approval nationwide.
Fr Kevin Doran, secretary of the Bioethics Commission, said yesterday they had written to Mr Martin in May 2004,before the new legislation became law, pointing out the difficulties they had with it and how this might prevent trials taking place in institutions with a Catholic ethos.
These difficulties included provisions whereby women of child-bearing age taking part in trials would be obliged to use chemical and barrier forms of contraception. The bishops felt this, in the context, took away from committed Catholic couples the right to decide themselves how they might wish to prevent conception.
Fr Doran said a commitment to "abstinence is not regarded as adequate", where the trials were concerned. "People should be allowed make such decisions for themselves and not have them imposed on them," he said.
Some contraceptives contained abortifacients and recent World Health Organisation reports suggested there could be cancer risks with others, he said.
The effect of such legislation has been to prevent Catholic hospitals and relevant institutions with a Catholic ethos from taking part in the trials. Among those hospitals are the Mater, St Vincent's, Mount Carmel, Temple Street and Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Dublin, as well as the Bon Secours in both Dublin, Cork, Galway and Tralee and Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda.
However, the ethics committee at Tallaght hospital in Dublin has approved such trials there. The former Church of Ireland Archdeacon of Dublin, Ven Gordon Linney, who is on the hospital's board, said yesterday its charter allowed for provision of all services which were lawful within the State.
It also has "a conscience clause," whereby no staff would have to take part in the administration of procedures that caused them moral difficulties, while no patient would be denied treatment consistent with their own moral principles.