John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

On behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I thank the Deputy for raising this matter today.

Last week this House debated possibly one of the most shocking and grave reports ever published in the history of the State. In their contributions, Deputies from all sides expressed with deep sincerity and often emotive terms the terrible regret, shame, sadness and outrage evoked by the horrors committed in residential institutions, which have now been laid bare by the Ryan report. The House spoke with one voice unequivocally expressing our nation's deep shame at the horrendous abuse perpetrated by people in our society who were entrusted with the care and protection of so many vulnerable children. We humbly acknowledged both society's and the State's failure to protect our children, and with a deep-seated determination said that society must face up to what happened and ensure it can never be repeated again. That is the express will of this House and it is now incumbent on us to do everything in our power to help those who suffered so much.

In the interests of clarity and for the benefit of the House, I propose to outline the manner in which the State's exhumation process operates. The role of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on acceding to requests to have the remains of deceased persons, including children such as in this specific case, is limited to acting under Section 47 (2) of the Coroners Act 1962, where a death may have occurred in suspicious circumstances. The relevant statutory provisions state that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, is empowered under Section 47(2) of the Coroners Act 1962 to issue an exhumation order when requested by the Garda Síochána and the relevant coroner.

The legislation states that where a coroner is informed by a member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of inspector that, in his opinion, the death of any person whose body has been buried in the coroner's district may have occurred in a violent or unnatural manner, the coroner may request the Minister to order the exhumation of the body by the Garda Síochána. On being requested under this section to authorise by order the exhumation of any body, the Minister may either make or refuse to make the order. Having regard to the Coroner's Act as outlined above, the Minister under law can only make a decision on whether an exhumation order is necessary and warranted based on the advice of the coroner and the Garda Síochána.

It is understandable, especially in light of the Ryan report's findings, that many families will now be anxious to establish the circumstances in which their relatives died or to have them re-interred in family plots. The Garda Commissioner has appointed an assistant commissioner to examine the Ryan report from the perspective of the commission of any criminal offence which may arise from it. This examination is underway and I urge anybody wishing to report information relating to the commission of a criminal offence arising from the report to do so by contacting the Garda Síochána without further delay.

However, if it is a case that relatives of those children and young adults who died in institutions wish to have them re-interred in family plots and an exhumation order is required for that purpose, then this is granted by the relevant local authority. The relevant legislation here is the section 46 of the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Act 1948 and it is within the remit of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

The Government is working with the representatives of survivors to implement the Ryan report's recommendations relating to them. As stated by the Taoiseach last week, the Government will have before it a plan for implementing all of the report's recommendations by the end of July.

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