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

This Bill has been introduced to address the legal circumstances we are facing, whereby at one identified site, Tuam, we are unable under the current legislation to intervene. This Bill gives us the opportunity to do so. It places a mandate on us to intervene and to do so to an incredibly high standard in light of the international forensic standards that apply in the context of excavation, recovery, identification and the obligation on the director to attempt to identify the cause of death and inform the relevant bodies, such as An Garda Síochána and the coroner. It also establishes a very important obligation in respect of the identification programme, so we can reunite family members who are still alive with the remains of their loved ones, which remains were so inappropriately treated.

This Bill is a major advance but it is not restricted to Tuam. We made the determination not to restrict it to Tuam. It is legislation that can be used at other sites. We put forward provisions for reviewing the operation of this Bill. My fundamental belief in this regard is contrary to that of Deputy Whitmore. She suggests that the Bill limits or somehow interferes with our ability to examine activities, actions and the treatment of children in the institutions in the past.

I believe this Bill is essential to allowing us to intervene. This is the legislative device that will finally allow us to intervene in Tuam 80 years after the suspicion of the burials there, which were identified by Catherine Corless five years after what happened there was finally confirmed by the initial investigations by the commission. It is for that reason that I believe this Bill is worthy of support.

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