Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 18 May 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Certain Institutional Burials (Authorised Interventions) Bill (Resumed)

Photo of Holly CairnsHolly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I take it that the Minister believes it is just as vital in each site, regardless of the nature of the unmarked grave, as it is in Tuam.

Why is there not a clear right of access to information for relatives in the Bill? Maybe it is not necessary but I am asking why it is not in the Bill.

The Minister spoke about it being inappropriate for three agencies to be involved around the exhumation and identification process. Does this mean that if the coroner does decide to act in relation to any of the sites examined by this agency, the coroner will have to wait until the agency is finished because, as the Minister has said, it is inappropriate to have more than one agency involved at one time? Would this result in remains being exhumed, identified and re-interred, and then that process happening again if the coroner was to get involved? Is the coroner allowed to come in during the process being undertaken by the agency? If that is the case, why is it inappropriate to have more than one agency involved at any one time?

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