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

This section is in place to recognise that there may be circumstances in which, irrespective of the manifestly appropriate nature of a burial, the relatives of those buried at the site may feel, for whatever reason, that an intervention involving the excavation of remains is not necessary. As I have said, excluding the Tuam site, there are differing views on the appropriateness of interventions. This issue was discussed during the pre-legislative scrutiny process. Contrary to what Deputy Ward suggested, this provision is not a route to avoiding an intervention taking place. The term "substantive reasons" has been added to the legislation to make it clear that any Government that seeks not to undertake an investigation on a site that was identified as being manifestly inappropriate would need to bring forward substantive reasons for its decision to undertake memorialisation rather than intervention. I do not think reference just to technical difficulties or anything like that would be sufficient to justify the requirement of substantive reasons.

The provision has been changed to include the additional requirement of substantive reasons. It provides the Government with a capacity to recognise that even if manifestly inappropriately buried remains are discovered at a site, there may be a view among relatives that the scale of intervention this legislation can permit is not desired in that particular situation.