Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)

This is a sensitive area. We are not talking about stillborn babies only. Some of those buried in unconsecrated ground were victims of infanticide or suicide or people who died in mental institutions or industrial schools. Quite a number of people were, for various reasons, not buried in consecrated ground.

I accept what the Minister says about the sites that are included in the list of monuments, but there are far more in the country. In many places, there is a reliance on local knowledge and folklore to protect them. In many cases there are no living relatives but in a significant number of cases there are.

Could the matter of unmarked graves be pursued with the archaeology departments in our universities? There is a danger that they could be lost with development.

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