Dr. Ann McGarry:

It was acknowledged in the legislation establishing our institute, even back then in the early 1990s, that at some point some scientific body may need to be charged with giving advice on this area. We were not given responsibility for that at that stage. There were some concerns a number of years ago and a committee was set up but I do not remember the details of it now. I was involved and we were asked to look at what would be needed for our institute to take it on. We looked at the practice in Sweden and in the UK and the kind of expertise they had and how they addressed the issue, but it did not progress beyond that.

We were never given functions in that area and I am afraid we do not have any expert in it either.