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

I thank the Deputy. I am sure he will recall the general scheme of a Bill to give effect to a phased forensic standard excavation at the site of the former mother and baby home in Tuam. It lapsed earlier this year prior to formal pre-legislative scrutiny. It is my intention to seek Cabinet approval to reintroduce this legislation. Following that approval, I will be seeking for the relevant joint Oireachtas committee, on its appointment, to prioritise early scrutiny of the proposed legislation so its recommendations can be taken into account during the drafting process. Once drafted and approved by the Government, I will take the Bill through the Oireachtas so further work required to establish the agency may be advanced. As Deputies will appreciate, the intention of the Bill is to allow for the exhumation and, if possible, the identification of the children interred at the site.

The Office of the Attorney General advises that new legislation will be required to carry this out because of the unique circumstances of the burials and the fact that the current laws would not allow for the Government's decision to be implemented. Work on drafting the Bill is ongoing in my Department. The general scheme of the Bill provides for the creation of an agency for a finite duration to manage the intervention at the site, and preliminary work on the establishment of that agency will proceed as the legislation takes its final shape. Once the legislation is in place and the agency has been established, it will procure the expertise required to undertake the works needed at the site.

I understand the delay in all this has been a source of real distress for the survivors of the mother and baby homes and their families. I assure the Deputy that I am committed to bringing forward the legislation to ensure the children interred in Tuam may at last be given a dignified burial.

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