Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Murnane O'Connor. We did cover a couple of those points earlier, so I will address some of the points that did not arise previously. The Deputy asked about FSI and its powers. We have set a power for FSI to engage in contracts where it may not have the required facilities. FSI has significant expertise and capabilities, and I acknowledge that at the outset. However, where FSI may not have particular capabilities on site, this legislation will grant it the right to contract out for required skills and capacities in Ireland or abroad. That is appropriate in respect of ensuring we have the widest range of expertise available to us in the DNA identification process.

The Deputy asked some very specific questions, and I do not have all the answers on hand.

Much of that will come about in terms of the administration of the agency, but it will be set up with a view to having the widest possible availability of DNA and other identification techniques. That is the right way to go about it.

We discussed the collection of DNA. There is provision for DNA to be collected prior to the agency being established. That was suspended due to Covid because it is a situation where two people must be present and there is the transfer of a saliva swap as part of that process. As restrictions continue to be reduced and as soon as we can ensure anyone involved will be fully vaccinated I will seek to initiate that process. It is dependent on vaccine roll-out, but I am conscious, particularly as the Deputy said, given the age of the people involved that it is important we start collecting that DNA as quickly as possible.

In terms of the Coroners Act, what we are disapplying is the exhumation and identifications powers of the coroner. Those are the two elements of the coronial Act we are proposing to disapply. We are not proposing to disapply any other elements of the existing coronial legislation.

The Deputy asked when the legislation will be commenced. It depends on when it is passed by the Oireachtas, but I am very eager, as I believe everyone is, to get this agency set up and operating initially on the Tuam site as quickly as possible. There will certainly be no barrier put in place by my Department in achieving that.

On the issue of wider access to information, we touched on that earlier. We have provided GDPR access to the archive of the commission but I always said it was the birth information and tracing legislation that would be the ultimate key to providing access to information. As I said, I look forward to working with the Chairman and all the members of the committee to get that legislation passed as quickly as possible.