Professor Ray Murphy:

That is quite a hard question to answer. I do not consider myself to have the relevant expertise, but I will attempt to answer the question first based on my own knowledge. This is an unusual answer, but if the agency that is established sets itself a limited objective then it can achieve that limited objective in a shorter time than if it sets itself the full task of exhuming all the remains. Does the Deputy understand what I am trying to say? If a preliminary examination takes place at a particular site and it is determined that we cannot go forward, then that can be closed relatively quickly. It is probably something that I would not necessarily agree with.

In work that I have done with other professionals in Iraq, the former Yugoslavia and Cyprus, the estimate could be ten to 15 years to exhume all the remains, if that takes place, which I know will greatly dismay survivors. The technical challenges of dealing with infant remains are extremely difficult. As members know, for example, there are far more bones in the skeleton of an infant than there are in that of an adult. After two or three years the bones begin to fuse. It would be very hard to exhume them and to find remaining body parts that are not contaminated. In some cases, for example in Cyprus – this occurred only in 1974 – the bodies were contaminated so it was not possible to extract DNA from the bodies. We do not know what may have happened some of the remains in the sites, for example, in Tuam. It is incredibly complex and technically challenging, but if I was asked to take over as director of the agency, I would insist on at least the capacity to embark on this in a thorough manner. I remind members that the international obligation on the State is to approach this in using our best efforts to achieve the best outcome. In the end we may not get the results that we want and some of the survivors and family members may be greatly disappointed. However, it is critical that the State puts in place the proper legislative framework and then engages with the agency and resources it to undertake and embark upon this. That will require hiring people who know how to do this and follow international best practice. There are a number of sites that need to be investigated preliminarily and then hopefully there will be a more thorough investigation, in addition to the other issue of determining causes of death, etc. It is incredibly challenging but it is really important that it is done well. The beginning of that is to get the statutory basis right.