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

We have discussed this before. In October 2022, the Government made an order under the Institutional Burials Act 2022 to direct an intervention at the site of the former mother and baby institution in Tuam. The Government order specifies that the functions of the director of authorised intervention in Tuam include carrying out an identification programme to seek to establish familial links. In May, I appointed Mr. Daniel MacSweeney to the position of Tuam director.

The 2022 Act provides that the participants in an identification programme must satisfy the director that they are eligible family members. The Act defines an eligible family member as a person who has reasonable grounds to believe he or she is a child, parent, sibling, half sibling, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew, whether of the whole blood or the half blood, grandniece or grandnephew of the person who is buried at an intervention site. During the development of the legislation I significantly expanded the list of family members who can participate in an identification programme under the general scheme. The published Act takes full account of recommendations put forward during the pre-legislative scrutiny process and reflects a further expansion I made during the legislative process in line with scientific advice. We got advice that a wider group could be brought in, in a successful way, and we amended the legislation accordingly. The advice outlined a justification for the expansion of the list of eligible family members in line with technological developments but highlighted scientific challenges with the inclusion of cousins.

It should be noted that the legislation provides that family members, not limited to the participants in an identification programme, are provided with regular updates on developments at the site by the director. In addition, final arrangements for remains that are recovered but not identified will have regard to the wishes of persons who believe they have family members buried at the site.

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