Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raise an issue following on from the passing by this House of all Stages of the Civil Law (Missing Persons) Bill 2016. The Bill will now go to the Dáil for debate. As a result of the Seanad debate, I have been contacted by a number of people who raised circumstances in which a body is found in Ireland but the remains are not identified. It appears that there is no centralised database of unidentified bodies found in Ireland. In other words, if a body is found in Cork the information on the case remains in Cork. If it is found in Kerry, the information remains in Kerry. In this day and age, we need a centralised system. In a recent case in County Louth a body was found and it took ten years before a match between the remains and a person who had been reported missing ten years ago. I ask that we deal with this issue in the next term by pressing the Minister to set up a centralised office. It would not cost more than €150,000 per year to run.

Furthermore, we do not have a centralised system and depository for unidentified human remains or tissue. Each area is doing its own thing. In a country of this size, it is time that changed. It would help to identify and assist families if we had a centralised system. I ask that this be given priority in the next term and that we set up such a system. I thank the Leader and the House for supporting the Civil Law (Missing Persons) Bill 2016. That legislation has shown that, as a result of a constructive debate, another issue has arisen on which the Seanad can also play a constructive role.