Mr. Rody O'Brien:

I want to address a number of points that Senator Seery Kearney made on compulsory purchase orders. I agree with her on the power of the testimony of Ms Coughlan. Ms Ryan-O'Brien and Ms Coughlan mentioned that the reform of the law must be survivor-led and must allow survivors to have a voice. As a lawyer I can say it is important that survivors get to speak before the lawyers do and here I am speaking to the committee.

Senator Seery Kearney asked about the dwellings and compulsory purchase orders. She is right that this issue is complicated. There are houses and dwellings on sites that may be burial grounds from the past. That matter is not even clear. As Ms Coughlan rightly pointed out, there may be scenes that require investigation. Some of these are crime scenes and they need to be investigated. As we mentioned before, we have obligations to investigate these mass burial sites of children. It is an issue of investigation to ascertain evidence and information about burial sites. Thereafter we can look at questions about dwellings and carrying out CPOs on land.

Apart from our international obligations, we owe it to survivors and all the people who have been buried on these sites to ascertain the truth and investigate. A level of investigation is glossed over or left out of this Bill. The committee needs to consider that and to go back and look at the investigative role. That would bring in some role for the coroner's court that would not drag it out for too long as the existing system does. The committee can reconsider that with all of the evidence because that is important with regard to investigation. Investigation is the key element that is sadly lacking in the general scheme.