Cardinal Desmond Connell is to lead a Catholic delegation that will meet the Taoiseach today to discuss "life issues", including cloning and euthanasia.
The delegation, which will include Bishop Patrick Walsh of Down and Connor, and Bishop Joseph Duffy of Clogher, is expected to outline the Catholic Church's opposition to EU-funded research into stem cell research and to reiterate proposals that people should be prohibited by law from donating sperm or eggs to help infertile couples.
This proposal was included in a submission last February by the Irish Bishops' Conference to the Government's Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction.
The commission was set up by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, in 2000 to recommend changes to the law to regulate "all aspects of human reproduction and the social, ethical and legal factors to be taken into account in determining public policy".
In their submission, the bishops recommended that the cloning of human embryos and all scientific research on embryos should be declared unethical and illegal. "In any form of assisted human reproduction, steps should be taken to avoid the production of more human embryos than can be safely transferred to the womb of the mother in any one treatment cycle."
The bishops are also vehemently opposed to any form of euthanasia or human cloning.
There was no indication, however, as to whether the bishops intended to raise the issue of abortion law in Ireland. The bishops backed a Yes vote in the abortion referendum of March 2002 which proposed to row back on parts of the Supreme Court decision on the X case, to outlaw abortion in cases of threatened suicide by the mother.