Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, for taking time out of his busy schedule to be here. In this country at the moment, when a human remains or a body is not identified there is no central database for the information that is gathered. I understand that the information is kept within each of the coroners' areas. Dr. René Gapert, who is an expert in this area, has suggested that a central database should be established. The cost of doing this would not be huge. It would be important to have such a system in place. Dr. Gapert has received the support of coroners from around the country. I am raising this issue on foot of a case in Dublin involving a person who was reported missing more than ten years ago. A body was washed up on the coast of County Louth within three months of the person being reported missing, but it took nine years for two and two to be put together and for it to be realised that the body which washed up in County Louth was that of the person who had been reported missing ten years earlier. The family of that person lived with uncertainty for ten years. A central database would help the Garda, the coroners and all the people involved. I ask the Department to give serious consideration to this proposal.