NICB-REC Decisions
The National Irish COVID-19 Biobank Research Ethics Committee (NICB-REC) has issued its first ethical opinion on the governance and operations of the NICB.
A phased and partitioned ethical opinion model
The NICB-REC has implemented a phased and partitioned ethical opinion model, developed by the National Office in consultation with the Committee’s biobanking experts, and discussed with and endorsed by all members of the REC.
The model enables the NICB-REC to issue a separate ethical opinion on individual elements of biobank operations, while reserving an opinion on biobank operations which have not yet commenced. This iterative review process facilitates NICB operations in an expedient and ethically robust way, corresponding to the biobank’s expected milestones towards being fully operational.
NICB-REC opinion
The ethical opinion delivered on 25 July 2023 for parts 1, 2 and 3 and on 31 July 2024 for part 4 is as follows:
| Partitioned NICB operations for separate ethical opinions | Ethical opinion |
|---|---|
| 1. Governance: Governance and oversight | Favourable with conditions |
| 2. Participant recruitment: Identification of potential participants; participant-facing information and consent protocols | Favourable with conditions |
| 3. Biological samples and data: collection, storage, processing, cataloguing, general curation, and security aspects | Favourable with conditions |
| 4. Researcher access, downstream impact and commercialisation | Favourable with conditions |
Further information on the deliberation process and details of the opinions and conditions provided can be found in the minutes of the NICB-REC meetings.
Please direct any questions to nicbrec@nrec.ie