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

I will seek to deal with the three elements laid out by the Deputy. I would argue there is a strong rationale for excluding official burial grounds and retaining the time period applicable in the legislation. It is important to ensure appropriately buried human remains are not disturbed unnecessarily. In addition, we need to take into account health and safety considerations. Section 44 of the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Act 1948 specifies where burials can appropriately take place. Where this legislation applies, there is an existing provision for an exhumation licence to be issued by the relevant Minister for a body or bodies in that location. An intervention under this Bill would, therefore, not be warranted if the provisions of the 1948 Act are applicable to the burial ground in question.

In response to the pre-legislative scrutiny process, which raised concern about the 70-year restriction that was contained in the original heads of Bill, the legislation now encompasses burials dating from the foundation of the State. We identified the date of 1922 to align with the investigation period within which the commission was investigation was operating. Removing any time restriction would create significant challenges that would expand the scope of the legislation significantly and could result in investigations of institutions that were operating in the 19th century or even earlier. It would be extremely difficult to assess burials that took place such a long time ago. It would also be very difficult and probably very unlikely that we would be able to bring together family members around whom to base an identification campaign, as provided for in the legislation. It is reasonable not to disturb remains that were buried appropriately unless there is a very clear rationale for doing so. The 1948 Act makes provision for specific circumstances in which there can be an intervention in inappropriate burials.

Another issue is that there may be situations - again, this is a potential scenario - where an excavation is unsafe for individuals to undertake. The health and safety of those undertaking the investigation must be considered. This probably would only arise in extreme situations. Even in terms of the excavation that will take place in Tuam, there is a range of actions that will have to be taken, for example, to ensure the very large wall that is right beside the chamber remains safe. Those actions will be taken to ensure the investigation can take place. However, there may be circumstances in which an excavation could not take place without endangering the health and safety of individuals. This would be in extreme circumstances but the legislation must at least make provision for such a situation.