Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the witnesses for their interesting contributions. I thank Ms Corrigan for her heartfelt presentation, and she is so right to be frustrated. It is an absolute disgrace what we have done to families, babies and women throughout this country. I think it was Mr. Buckley who made a valid point that we are doing this in a piecemeal fashion. I do not think a truth and reconciliation process can be written into this legislation but it needs to be considered now, and the steps towards it, following the commission's report. It shows how the commission has failed to deliver answers and how now, through this legislation, we are here trying to find the answers. Possibly, this legislation is not the legislation to find all those answers and make sure we have truth and reconciliation. I am speaking out of frustration that we are still here, still at the point where we have babies in a septic tank in Tuam and we do not have a clear path forward at the minute on how we look after them.

I have a question for Dr. McCullagh, and her contribution was fascinating. On the reliability and limitations of forensic archaeological investigations on remains that may date to prior to 1940 or 1950, how reliable are they for Dr. McCullagh's analysis of the story of those bones or remains, when and if there is an excavation and examination? I am just wondering about that reliability when it comes to very historical remains.

That is an excellent question and it has a good answer in that they are absolutely reliable. Forensic anthropological analysis and osteoarchaeological analysis can contribute significantly to the understanding of the life of an individual. Issues with degradation would have an impact. If the ends of the bones have degraded a lot, it may be difficult to get the exact length. Degradation may impact technical matters such as that. If we are looking at remains from the 1940s, depending on the context in which they have been found, one would expect to be able to get some good results from morphological analysis of those.