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

I move amendment No. 57:

In page 58, to delete lines 7 and 8 and substitute the following: "67.(1) Subject to subsection (2), FSI shall, at the request of a Director, destroy a sample, delete a DNA profile or delete related information in accordance with this Chapter.

(2) Subsection (1)shall not operate to require FSI to delete related information that it needs to retain in order to demonstrate that it has complied with the requirements of this Part.".

I signalled my intention on Committee Stage to bring forward amendments to sections 67 and 69 in regard to the process of deleting information associated with an identification programme. These technical amendments are proposed on foot of advice we received from Forensic Science Ireland, FSI. Amendment No. 57 provides that certain information can be retained by FSI to show how the process of obtaining samples and profiles complied with the provisions of the legislation. This amendment aligns the approach taken to the deletion of related information in situations where samples are destroyed and profiles are deleted with that which is in place under the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Act 2014, which FSI advised has worked well.

Amendments Nos. 58 to 61, inclusive, will facilitate a more direct way of linking a second or subsequent bone from a deceased person to a family member. The provisions authorise the retention of DNA profiles from relevant persons after there has been a notification of a familial link in order that any further remains from a deceased person who has already been linked to a family member can be more easily linked to that person again. This is important in a site like Tuam where individualising remains may be challenging and it is possible that more than one bone from the same person will be sent for analysis. The amendments will enable FSI to use the most direct way of comparing the DNA profile of such bones with the DNA profiles of family members.

See this speech in context