Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. My understanding is that the Coroners Society of Ireland, the Office of the State Pathologist, the Dublin District Coroner, the missing persons bureau of An Garda Síochána and Forensic Science Ireland support the proposal I am making. I presented it to the Department and the Minister of the day five years ago, but it is only in the past three weeks that we have had a database with 44 cases. My understanding is that there are many more cases, which have not been presented to the Department, of unidentified buried remains.

This is a matter we should be addressing. One approach would be central co-ordination. In fairness, each and every coroner's office is under immense pressure because more cases are being referred to them. For example, the Dublin District Coroner faces major challenges in trying to deal with its workload and have decisions made. I understand that, where some coroners and pathologists are concerned, the analysis that they require is being done outside the State. We could have a central hub to co-ordinate not only that, but also training so that we do not have to send some of the work to other jurisdictions. We should give this suggestion serious consideration. There would be significant savings for the State in the long term and remains would be identified earlier.

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