The Rotunda Maternity Hospital in Dublin has not made a written submission to the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction. It is the main hospital offering infertility treatment through assisted human reproduction.
Its Master, Dr Peter McKenna, said a number of people working in this area of the hospital had spoken with the commission, but they had not made a formal submission.
The Adelaide Hospital Society made a detailed submission, most of which was published in The Irish Times yesterday.
The society is distinct from the former Adelaide hospital and the current Tallaght Hospital, and has campaigned for support for these hospitals as public hospitals serving all denominations since its foundation in 1939.
"We explained what we were doing to the commission, and explained the process by which we arrived at the decision, with legal advice, ethical advice, and so on," Dr McKenna said.
He said that it was not necessarily helpful to seek total clarity on these issues. "Clarity can mean either no to everything or yes to everything. This is an area that is still evolving."
Asked if he supported the view of the Adelaide Hospital Society that this area should be regulated by a permanent commission rather than by legislation, he said: "It's a question of who ends up on the commission.
"If it's a group of geneticists and clinicians then things might move along quite fast. But it might be too fast for the population as a whole."
Referring to issues such as research of tissue that emerged from assisted human production procedures, he said that the hospital had already been approached by a foreign company to harvest core blood cells to cope with diseases such as leukemia.
While the hospital had so far not agreed, his own view was that it would be better to engage in such work with the other Irish maternity hospitals, and work with a company working in an Irish context, which would be aware of Irish concerns.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Catholic hierarchy said that the hierarchy had sent its submission to the Commission on Assisted Reproduction, but had not decided whether or not to make it public.
Asked for his views on the Adelaide Society submission, the spokesman said that the hierarchy did not normally comment on other people's contributions.
The Department of Health said yesterday that the commission had met eight times since it was set up in March 2000.