Introduction

The use of animals for experimental purposes is a controversial subject, in Ireland this use has been controlling using a statue enabled in 1876 called the cruelty of animals act

This law requires that any person wishing to use an animal for scientific purpose is required to have an authorisation issued by the Minister of Health

In this regard, Ireland and the United Kingdom were ahead of the other European countries.

The council of Europe (1986) felt that this area needed to be controlled throughout Europe in the interest of animal welfare,
It drew up a document dealing with the conditions under which animals may be used for scientific purpose. It also laid down guidelines for the accommodation of animals with specific regard to space and temperature.

This convention became available for ratification by countries. This was a voluntary measure signifying the intent of a country to implement legislation which would enshrine the articles contained in the convention.

With the increasing harmonisation of law as within the European community, the commission decided to implement the Council of Europe Convention as a whole and agree an EC directive (EC 86/609) which required local member states to have in place by 01/11/1989 laws which would protect the welfare of all animals used for scientific purposes.

Many member states had to draw up legislation de-novo to satisfy this directive. The UK because of internal political pressure decided to develop a new act. Ireland on the other hand had in place a working piece of legislation and opted to use the old 1876 Act to implement the directive. Consequently it was comparatively painless to move from National Legislation to European Legislation. The new legislation has been in operation since November 1989. However; the only difference that the average researcher is likely to see is a greatly expanded application form with a log of searching questions requiring detailed justification of project experiments and specific details of procedures with the possible effects on the animals.