‘We welcome this government decision which will advance Irish health research and patient care’, says Dr Darrin Morrissey, Chief Executive at the Health Research Board (HRB). ‘It will introduce benefits for patients, such as access to trials and availability of new treatments. It will also give researchers in Ireland access to a portfolio of tools and services across Europe to improve the delivery of trials, and make it easier to extend their own trials internationally’.

The HRB has engaged with ECRIN-ERIC (European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network – a European Research Infrastructure Consortium) for many years and recently recommended Irish membership to the Department of Health. The Department made the case to the Irish Government who has now given the go-ahead for the HRB to advance Irish membership. The HRB will now begin the formal application process, which it hopes to conclude in the coming months.

Membership will give Irish researchers full access to all the tools and services within ECRIN-ERIC, such as trial preparation, protocol review, trial management, data centre certification, capacity building projects, and ECRIN supported trials.

Further updates about the practical aspects of Ireland’s membership and how researchers might access ECRIN-ERIC services will be posted by the HRB as the application progresses.

ENDS

Note 1: The European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (ECRIN) is a not-for-profit intergovernmental organisation that supports the conduct of multinational clinical trials in Europe. As of 2013, ECRIN has the legal status of a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC).

Based in Paris, it works work with European Correspondents across Europe, national networks of clinical trial units (CTUs), as well as numerous European and international stakeholders involved in clinical research.