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

This amendment proposes to delete the power of the relevant Minister to alter the functions of the director and any such alteration would require agreement from the Government. I make it clear that the purpose of the existing provision is not to prevent the director from undertaking certain activity. Any such proposal that the Government would have to alter the scope of the director's role would be based on information provided by the director and that must be taken into account by the relevant Minister. The provision allows for adapting the work of the office in line with the request of the director. This in turn reflects the reality that, at the start of any intervention, there is probably often going to be a high degree of uncertainty in regard to what the office or the director are going to encounter at the site. We have an idea of what is happening in Tuam because there has already been an intervention but at other sites, we might not have that degree of certainty.

By removing these provisions, the director may be legally required to perform a function that, in reality, cannot be implemented. For example, if the initial order gave the director the power and the duty to undertake a DNA sampling process but, let us say, no relative came forward to provide DNA, in that situation the director has a legal duty to undertake a role that he or she cannot undertake. In that situation, it would be legitimate to give the Government the right to say the director should continue with the excavation and recovery, but that the director does not have to undertake that part of it and does not have that duty any more because he or she is not in a position to do so. It is just to give a degree of flexibility in terms of the unknowns a director and an agency will face.