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

Amendments Nos. 20 and 21 were put forward on Committee Stage and I cannot accept them for the reasons I outlined at that stage.

The Government has to balance the need to intervene with the need to respect the long-standing tradition of the sanctity of burials. It is important to recognise that the excavation and recovery of human remains is an extensive, complex and sensitive intervention.

Safeguarding the public interest is an important concept. It is used in other domestic and European legislation. It is necessary to set out a strong legal basis grounded in public interest to ensure the impact of the proposed intervention on constitutional rights is limited and proportionate to the aims of this particular legislation. It is on that basis that the Bill requires consideration of safeguarding public interest and sets out a number of factors the Government will take into account when determining if an intervention is proportionate. These include the need to accord dignity to persons buried in the land; the need to respect the views of relatives of persons buried in the land; public health; the impact of the intervention; and alternative options, if any, which may be available.

It is difficult to disagree with the importance of according dignity to persons buried in the land. Public health is also an important factor to have regard to given that public health considerations are one of the main reasons laws about the exhumation of remains are strictly controlled. We cannot disregard the impact on the wider public, including local residents. Furthermore, we all agree with the need to consider the views of relatives of persons buried in the land. In some locations - we spoke about this earlier - relatives may not be supportive of excavation and their views need to be respected.

I stress that I am confident that nothing in the test, as set out, would in any way intervene with the fact that the situation in Tuam meets the criterion of "manifestly inappropriate".

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