Mr. Drew Harris:

I would like to have an opportunity to give a written response on that matter because it touches on very sensitive issues. It impacts on people deeply.

There have been successes in identifying unidentified bodies through a process involving DNA samples taken from family members. I think that process has only emerged in the past four or five years. Although DNA samples have been used from the late 1980s and the early 1990s, the process has only been applied to such cases in recent times, with success being achieved both in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The attraction is that if a body is recovered from the sea, one can quickly go through DNA records to resolve matters quickly for the family. The vagaries of the tides and currents in the Irish Sea can mean that bodies can travel right across it. The bodies of people who have gone missing in Ireland have turned up along the Anglesey coast. It does not just involve a national response. We must look at the response across the Irish Sea also. I do not think we compartmentalise. If somebody is missing, we take notice of it nationally. Forensic Science Ireland has taken a national approach to the issue in the investigation of remains that have been recovered. We have assisted in investigations which may have directed it towards identifying a recovered body as being the remains of a certain individual. DNA testing allows this to be clarified with certainty. There is quite a piece in this and I would like to have the opportunity to consider it. It is just not about my office but also Forensic Science Ireland and the resources it allocates to the task, as well as a review of cases by our national units.