Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said he is seriously concerned by today's High Court ruling against a woman who tried to have frozen embyos implanted in her womb against the will of her estranged husband.
The Archbishop said the court's ruling that the three frozen embryos are not "unborn" as defined under the Constitution "cast doubt on what rules were in place to protect life".
"From a first consideration of the judgment, it would appear that the decision casts doubt concerning the level of protection which the Constitution affords to human life at its earliest stages," he said.
"It is to be hoped that this issue will receive full consideration in any eventual appeal to the Supreme Court and that the general protection of every human life at all stages of its development will be vindicated."
The Pro-Life Campaign said it was "confident the Supreme Court will vindicate the rights of the human embryo if the judgement is appealed."
The campaign expressed disappointment with the High Court decision and said in a statement: "Whenever the law lacks clarity regarding the most basic right, namely the right to life, it undermines the basis for all other self-evident rights we cherish. Separate entirely from the present case, there is need for legislation to protect the human embryo."
The Labour Party welcomed the clarity that the High Court decision on the frozen embryo case has brought, although it insists that the Government must now produce legislation for assisted reproduction clinics.
The party's health spokeswoman Liz McManus said: "It is very important that this decision has been made and that we now have some clarity on the issue. It's up to the Government to produce the legislation, on licensing and regulating fertility clinics, that they promised.
" . . . it is important, for patient safety, to have legislation," she added. "Government lethargy on this does not augur well. Hopefully this court decision will open the way to providing the necessary safeguards."
Ms McManus pointed out there are nine assisted reproduction clinics in the country, but no regulatory framework for the sector and recommended that a regulatory authority be established for in-vitro fertilisation "as has been proposed by the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction (a working group put together by The Department of Health and Children)."
She also said that issues relating to embryo donation for research purposes could also be included in the Bill. However she highlighted that there is still no definition of 'the unborn': "It is clearly up to the Government to resolve this longstanding issue."
"The Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction presented their report in to Minister Harney in May of last year. Unfortunately that report has been gathering dust on a shelf in the Minister's office, and no action has been taken," she said.
Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney, agreed that the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction's report was published in May last year but said the Government decided to refer the report to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children.
She said the commission was established in March 2000 and conducted an intensive and analytical examination of assisted human reproduction issues: "Its conclusions derive from this wide research. Its report was prepared after twenty three meetings. It also consulted widely and sought submissions from the public."
The process of referral to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children is "intended to allow for further consideration of the complex issues involved and the committee's report, along with the report of the commission, will help to inform future policy in this area," Ms Harney said.
She said she has already instructed her department to begin preparing for legislation is this area and today's judgement will be examined by the department as part of this process.