A Government-appointed expert committee has recommended that the health authorities establish regional services to carry out cultural male circumcisions, writes Martin Wall
The committee's report, which has been given to Minister for Health Mary Harney, strongly argues for the procedure to be carried out in a medical setting.
It says that circumcisions "performed by untrained people in inappropriate environments are not acceptable in Ireland".
It warns that any injury to an infant arising from a circumcision carried out by "an incompetent person" could be deemed to be a form of child abuse and be subject to child protection legislation or criminal law.
It says that such incidents should be reported to the Health Service Executive, properly investigated, and decisions taken on the facts of the individual case. The report says circumcisions should be performed by appropriately-trained surgeons and anaesthetists in adequately equipped units.
However, the committee says it is satisfied that the practice of neo-natal Orthodox Jewish circumcisions - carried out by trained rabbis - should be permitted to continue. It proposes that this situation be kept under review.
The expert committee, chaired by the professor of paediatrics at the Royal College of Surgeons, Dr Denis Gill, was established by the Department of Health to establish the needs for cultural circumcision, to address the ethical considerations and draw up recommendations on procedures to be followed if the practice was considered appropriate.
Last October a Nigerian man was found not guilty by a court in Waterford of reckless endangerment in relation to a home circumcision he carried out in the county two years previously. The court had been told that a 29-day-old boy, Collis Osaighe, had died from haemorrhage and shock due to bleeding some hours after the circumcision had been carried out.
In its findings the expert committee recommends that cultural male circumcisions should be provided in the Irish health services.
It says the Health Services Executive should provide a regional service capable of performing the requisite number of circumcisions.
It estimates that up to 2,000 such procedures could be required annually. The report also warns that the provision of increasing numbers of elective circumcisions may have an impact on the volume of other surgical procedures that can be performed in hospitals.
The report says that medical and nursing staff who have ethical objections to the procedure should be allowed to opt out of the service.