Council Of Ireland Research Articles

Building Irish families through surrogacy: medical and judicial issues for the advanced reproductive technologies

Surrogacy involves one woman (surrogate mother) carrying a child for another person/s (commissioning person/couple), based on a mutual agreement requiring the child to be handed over to the commissioning person/couple following birth. Reasons for seeking surrogacy include situations where a woman has non-functional or absent reproductive organs, or as a remedy for recurrent pregnancy loss. Additionally, surrogacy may find application in any medical context where pregnancy is contraindicated, or where a couple consisting of two males seek to become parents through oocyte donation. Gestational surrogacy is one of the main issues at the forefront of bioethics and the advanced reproductive technologies, representing an important challenge to medical law. This analysis reviews the history of surrogacy and clinical and legal issues pertaining to this branch of reproductive medicine. Interestingly, the Medical Council of Ireland does not acknowledge surrogacy in its current practice guidelines, nor is there specific legislation addressing surrogacy in Ireland at present. We therefore have developed a contract-based model for surrogacy in which, courts in Ireland may consider when confronted with a surrogacy dispute, and formulated a system to resolve any potential dispute arising from a surrogacy arrangement. While the 2005 report by the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction (CAHR) is an expert opinion guiding the Oireachtas' development of specific legislation governing assisted human reproduction and surrogacy, our report represents independent scholarship on the contractual elements of surrogacy with particular focus on how Irish courts might decide on surrogacy matters in a modern day Ireland. This joint medico-legal collaborative also reviews the contract for services arrangement between the commissioning person/s and the surrogate, and the extent to which the contract may be enforced.

Reconciliation or Irredentism? The Irish Government and the Sunningdale Communiqué of 1973

AbstractThis article uses recently released archival material to examine the role of the Irish government in the negotiation of the Sunningdale communiqué of 1973, which marked, among other things, an agreement to establish a Council of Ireland and was therefore a key part of the first attempt to establish a power-sharing devolved executive in Northern Ireland. The article will problematise the distinctions which have been made between various strains of political thought held by leading intellectuals and politicians on the national question and show how the discourse of ‘revisionist nationalism’ and reconciliation which sponsored the key institution of the Sunningdale communiqué, the Council of Ireland, was in contradiction to the meaning attached to the functions of the Council, which was in fact closer to traditional nationalist aims.

Working and training as an intern: a national survey of Irish interns

The Medical Council of Ireland recently introduced some initiatives to enhance the education and training of interns. These include the development of a generic job description, a logbook to monitor training outcomes and a national network of supervisors to plan and oversee intern training. To get feedback on the impact of these reforms, the Medical Council surveyed all interns with Irish addresses in March 2003. Three hundred (65%) of 461 interns responded. The majority provided positive feedback on many aspects of their education and training, their work environment and professional relationships. However, a majority also reported a lack of protected time for education, a lack of formal educational programmes, insufficient feedback on performance and an unnecessarily stressful work environment. Overall, 61% reported being bullied and 4% had experienced sexual harassment. While feedback on the Irish internship experience is generally positive, further work is necessary to address the problems identified.

The Reconstruction of Bourgeois Order in Northern Ireland

In April, the Northern Ireland process finally resulted in an agreement reached under the chairmanship of U.S. Senator John Mitchell. The so-called Good Friday Agreement, which is to be put to a referendum on May 22, proposed the establishment of a power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly (with the prospect of Sinn Fein actually joining a Northern Ireland executive), a cross-border Council of Ireland to reassure the rationalist community that their interests are protected, and a British Council to similarly reassure the Unionists. A major concession to the Unionists is the proposal that the Irish Republic drop its constitutional claim to the North. There is also an understanding that the prisoners from those paramilitary organizations accepting the agreement will be released within two years of its implementation.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

In conversation with Desmond McGrath

Dr McGrath was born in Liverpool in 1922. He was Medical Director of St John of God Hospital from January 1955 until December 1991 and Consultant Psychiatrist, St Laurence's (Richmond) Hospital (Beaumont Hospital from 1987), Dublin from 1956 until 1988. He was a Foundation Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and was a member of Council from 1974 to 1979, a member of the Court of Electors from 1979 to 1982 and Chairman of the Irish Division from 1974 to 1977. He was a member of Council and Censor of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland from 1980 to 1982 and Chairman of the Section of Psychiatry of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland from 1973 to 1975. He was President of the Medico-Legal Society of Ireland from 1966 to 1968 and has served on the Fitness to Practice Committee of the Medical Council of Ireland since 1989 and the Mental Health & Neurology Committee of the Medical Research Council of Ireland from 1969 to 1991.

Ulster: conflict and consent

Part I Independence or Unity?: island - state and nation the emergence of a unified state without consensus Irish unity within the Union Independence or Unity - the home rule phase independence or Unity - Towards a Republic The Responsibility for Partition. Part II Politics and Policies in Northern Ireland : Home Rule in the North - a Hard Beginning Devolution in Northern Ireland: an Overview, 1920-72 Fiscal Constraints and the Subvention Economic Progress and Strategies for Development Industrial Location and Discrimination Discrimination, social Structure and Unemployment The Housing Shortage and Discrimination Education - Development within a Segregated System. Part III Revolt, Reform and the Search for a Constitutional Solution: From Civil Rights to Civil Strife Westminster and the Security Problem Power-Sharing and the Council of Ireland - a Fatal Mixture? Constitutional Initiative and Hunger Strikes The Anglo-Irish Agreement and its Aftermath. Part IV: Central Issues: The Religious Divide The Republic and its Three Minorities Secutiry - Maintaining the Law and Respecting the Law Prospects Strategies Map showing Religious Distribution of Population.

Chris Drury, Crafts Council of Ireland, Dublin, 11 January - 11 February

Chris Drury, Crafts Council of Ireland, Dublin, 11 January - 11 February

A Study of Conflict in Northern Ireland: An Application of Metagame Theory

This paper summarizes a study of the conflict in Northern Ireland using the particular analytic technique of metagame theory known as the analysis of options. Four major alternative political structures were identified and the relative stability of each was analyzed. The alternatives were: (1) a United Ireland, (2) Dominion status or legislative independence for Northern Ireland, (3) Colonial status with a legislative Assembly subordinate to the British Government, and token representation at Westminster, (4) an integrated Parliament of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Alternatives (2) and (3) were evaluated with and without a Council of Ireland or other link with the Republic of Ireland. The results suggest the most stable structure would be Dominion status for Northern Ireland with constitutional guarantees for participation by minorities in the processes of government.

Eighth Annual Report from the American Committee for Irish Studies, 1973-4

The eleventh annual conference of the American Committee for Irish Studies was hosted by the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, 3-5 May 1973, with Professor Leo F. McNamara supervising local arrangements. Assisting Professor McNamara were conference committee members Mary Bromage, Richard Kennedy, Frances McSparran, Francis O'Brien and James O'Neill. The quality of the previous conferences was sustained as well-conceived sessions provided for a programme that was both imaginative and substantive. An impressive library exhibit of the University of Michigan holdings of Irish interest numbered among the several conference attractions. Once again, well over a hundred active members from throughout the United States, Canada and Ireland, together with invited guests, were in attendance. Dermot Foley, Head of the Library Council of Ireland, treated the assemblage to one of the finest banquet discourses in memory. At the annual business meeting held on 4 May, the organization's membership approved an executive committee recommendation to raise the annual dues from four to six dollars. The motion also contained a provision admitting to regular membership, for a fee of three dollars, graduate students whose status is attested to by a supervising faculty member. Rising costs were cited as the reason for the rise in dues. It was further announced that Professor James I,iddy, of the Division of Humanities, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, will organize an ACIS seminar on contemporary Irish writing at the December 1973 Modern Language Association meeting; and that the annual ACIS joint session with the American Historical Association will be postponed to 1974 because of the new AHA ruling limiting affiliate organizations to alternate year participation. Finally, the revised by-laws of the ACIS were ratified unanimously by the members in attendance. The conference closed with a distinctly novel session, chaired by Maurice Harmon, in which Professors Gareth and Janet Dunleavy, of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, gave a presentation on the O'Conor papers, one of Ireland's richest manuscript collections, followed by a colour slide presentation of the Jeanne R. Foster-William M. Murphy Collection of Irish and Anglo-Irish Miscellanea by Professor

Medical Research Council of Ireland

Medical Research Council of Ireland

The electrocardiographic abnormality in familial cardiac arrhythmia.

I wish to acknowledge the assistance of Dr. E. Tempany, Research Fellow of the Medical Research Council of Ireland, Dr. P. Froggatt of the Queen’s University, Belfast, Dr. T. James, Ford Hospital, Detroit, and Professor P. Cannon, University College, Dublin.

The zoonoses: animals as a source of human disease.

I AM very sensible of the honour which the Roval Academy of Medicine in Ireland and the Medical Research Council of Ireland have conferred on me in selecting me to give this the fif.th Graves Lecture. The subject I venture to hope would have interested Robert James Graves for his first paper was about an epidemic of typhus in Galway. " I t is said of Graves th'at one day, whilst visiting the convalescent ward, he remarked the healthy and plump appearance of some of them who had recovered from typhus. Turning 'to his class, he said, "This is all the effect of our good feeding,' adding ' when I am gone you may be at a loss for an epitaph for me; let me give you one in three ~vords--he fed fevers.' " (C'ameron, 1916). In 1830 Graves a,,varded his prize for 'an essay on typhus to Robert Kane later to become President of Queen's College, Co~k (1849) (Fleetwood, 19'51). Virchow (Meyer, 1942) proposed .the term zoonosis for animal diseases which are naturally transmissible to man. Subsequent authors have used the word in a variety of senses so that it is necessary to define the term before one begins to discuss the ~opic. The joint WHO/FAO expert group (WHO, 1959) on zoonoses used a rather wider concept of these 'diseases than is commonly accepted in that they regarded not alone diseases of animals transferable to man, but a.lso arthropod bites as zoonoses. I propose in this lecture to accept this broad definition. With many infectious diseases such as malaria, yellow feTer, leprosy and tuberculosis now u~nder control it will be agreed generally that the zoonoses are ~he most significant group of communicable diseases yet to be conquered. The WHO/FA,O expert committee in their second report (WHO, 1959) suggested that many zoonoses such as larva migrans, taeniasis and so on should 'be made notifiable in all countries. I think it is a great pit)" that this has not been done here. The lack of in, terest in this group of diseases here was shown when Ireland was one of ,the few countries not represented a~ the international congress on zoonoses held in Prague in November, 1963.

Medical Research Council of Ireland

Medical Research Council of Ireland

EFFECT OF IRON AND ZINC ON GROWTH PATTERNS OF ESCHERICHIA COLI IN IRON-DEFICIENT MEDIUM.

Ratledge, Colin (Medical Research Council of Ireland, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland), and Frank G. Winder. Effect of iron and zinc on growth patterns of Escherichia coli in an iron-deficient medium. J. Bacteriol. 87:823-827. 1964.-Escherichia coli grew poorly in a shaken glycerol-salts medium depleted of trace metals. Normal growth was restored by the addition of 2.0 mug of iron per ml. At lower levels of iron, the lag period was increased and the rate of growth and the yield were decreased. Unless the initial concentration of iron was reduced below 0.035 mug/ml, the effect on the yield was comparatively small. Below this concentration, growth was approximately linear and the yield was proportional to the amount of iron present; these cultures underwent a second phase of growth about 24 hr after the original cessation of growth, the growth being slower than before and accompanied by increase in length of the bacteria. Zinc (0.10 mug/ml) was usually inhibitory during the first growth phase, but induced an earlier and more rapid second growth phase; it greatly increased the degree of filament formation. With a small inoculum (about 560 cells per ml) in depleted medium, the lag period was 1 day with 0.5 mug of iron per ml, but was 8 days when no additions were made.

PARAFALG STAINING OF ACIDIC TISSUES.

1. The Parafalg technique is one in which a wholly basic dye (Pararosanalme chloride) is the primary stain and light green (SF, yellowish) is used as a secondary and supplementary stain. 2. A trichromatic picture in red, purple and blue is produced, these colours corresponding to high, medium and low acidity, respectively. 3. Details of the technique are given, including a method of blocking basic tissues against the acid light green supplementary stain. 4. The significance of the results found are discussed and it is shown that by the use of Palg and Parafalg methods a 16-fold classification of tissue elements is possible. 5. The staining of DNA and RNA loci is discussed briefly. This work was carried out with the aid of special technical assistance provided by the Medical Research Council of Ireland, for which we express our thanks.

Serum enzymes and blood ammonium in hepatic disease of pregnancy

1. Increased activity of SLDH, SGOT, and SICD is associated with rise in blood ammonium and points to a correlation with liver disease. These serum enzymes are altered by other conditions in pregnancy and hence are not reliable as liver function tests in obstetrical disease. 2. SGPT activity appears to be less easily influenced. Its correlation with blood ammonium supports its use as the more specific tests of liver disease in pregnancy. 3. Increased SGPT activity with concomitant elevation of blood ammonium was demonstrated in toxaemia of pregnancy, infectious hepatitis and toxic hepatitis. 4. SGPT activity was increased in a case of severe vomiting of late pregnancy without jaundice suggesting early subclinical hepatocellular damage. 5. Cord blood ammonium was elevated in two cases of severe foetal distress associated with prolonged labour and difficult delivery following an apparently normal antenatal course. The principal author, Mrs. Kam, was supported by a full-time research grant from the Medical Research Council of Ireland.

HINCONSTARCH IN GENITO‐URINARY TUBERCULOSIS1

British Journal of UrologyVolume 30, Issue 1 p. 25-28 HINCONSTARCH IN GENITO-URINARY TUBERCULOSIS1 Anthony Walsh F.R.C.S.I., Anthony Walsh F.R.C.S.I. Urologist, Jervis Street Hospital, DublinSearch for more papers by this authorMichaelL. Conalty M.D., D.P.H., MichaelL. Conalty M.D., D.P.H. Laboratories of the Medical Research Council of Ireland, DublinSearch for more papers by this author Anthony Walsh F.R.C.S.I., Anthony Walsh F.R.C.S.I. Urologist, Jervis Street Hospital, DublinSearch for more papers by this authorMichaelL. Conalty M.D., D.P.H., MichaelL. Conalty M.D., D.P.H. Laboratories of the Medical Research Council of Ireland, DublinSearch for more papers by this author First published: March 1958 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-410X.1958.tb03499.xCitations: 2 Read at the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the British Association of Urological Surgeons at London on 28th June 1957. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume30, Issue1March 1958Pages 25-28 RelatedInformation

The problem of endemic goitre in Ireland

The publications and other unpublished data obtained by a group of workers under the Medical Research Council of Ireland concerning endemic goitre in South Tipperary are reviewed.

Medical research council of Ireland

Medical research council of Ireland

Bacteriological investigation into the causation of diarrhoea and enteritis in Dublin in 1942—3

The Group I paracolon bacilli formed biochemically a stable group. They fermented glucose, maltose, mannite, and dulcite, but not saccharose. Most of them could be distinguished from Salmonella organisms by the late fermentation of lactose or the production of indole. Many resembled the Newcastle bacillus in being late-dulcite fermenters. Serologically 75% of the strains were identical, each containing the A antigen. Some formed a separate group containing the A antigen, andBact. alkalescensantigen and the C antigen of some Group III strains. The A strains are probably identical with those of Dudgeon & Pulvertaft (1927), but their strains were described as being motile. All Group I strains had minor agglutinins in common with the dysentery bacilli, particularly when freshly isolated. Most of Dudgeon's strains were isolated from cases of urinary infection, but in the present investigation almost all were isolated from the discharges of infants with diarrhoea and enteritis. This organism may be regarded as pathogenic or facultatively so, and deserves a name. I suggest it would be appropriate to attach to it the name of Dudgeon, who was the first to call attention to it.Biochemically Group III bacilli resembled Group I strains but differed in fermenting saccharose. Some were motile. The metabolic and biochemical properties examined were stable. Serologically many (40%) possessed the A antigen, but also possessed a type-specific antigen, E. Others (37%) possessed both C and D antigens, usually C but sometimes D was dominant. These strains are related to the dysentery bacilli by the possession of common, minor antigens. A group of serologically heterogeneous strains remained (23%), generally unrelated to the dysentery bacilli.Most Group II bacilli were stable biochemically, but some were not. Many strains of Group IV were unstable. Serologically, Groups II and IV were mostly heterogeneous, although 24% were included in the A, B, C, D, E pattern. Together they formed but a minority of all the paracolon bacilli.Further serological investigation is required to discover new antigens and to link up the paracolon bacilli isolated from various sources.This work was carried out under a whole-time grant from the Medical Research Council of Ireland to whom I am indebted.I wish to record my very best thanks to my director, Prof. R. A. Q. O'Meara, for his continuous interest and invaluable advice at all times and without whose aid this research would not have been possible. My gratitude and thanks are due to my colleague, Dr J. St L. O'Dea, for his unfailing co-operation, particularly in obtaining all the specimens so quickly, in assisting at the post-mortems, and for many other services too numerous to mention.Thanks are also due to the authorities, doctors and nurses of St Ultan's Hospital, Temple Street Hospital, St Kevin's Hospital, Clonskeagh Fever Hospital, Cork Street Hospital, and the Child Welfare Clinics in Dublin, particularly to Dr F. N. Elcock and Dr T. Murphy for their support and co-operation; to the ‘Diarrhoea and Enteritis’ Committee of the Department of Local Government and Public Health for their supervision of the research; and to the staff of the Department of Bacteriology, Trinity College, Dublin, where the research was carried out, for the help and facilities given.I would like to thank all those general practitioners in Dublin who co-operated by the early notification of cases and in other ways. Finally, I wish to record my appreciation to the Statistics Branch, Department of Industry and Commerce, for their interest and kindness in furnishing a valuable report.