John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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812. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the proposal to reinter on Omey Island a number of skeletal remains removed from the island and understood currently to be stored at the National Museum of Ireland Cultural Resource Centre. [1810/25]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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The Omey remains are secure in the Cultural Resource Centre in Swords. I can confirm the skeletal remains, which are medieval in date, are very well preserved and that progress is well underway for further examination of the remains.

Good progress is being made through the various necessary stages of the assessment. The remains have now been re-catalogued and the National Monuments Service is working with the National Museum through a public procurement framework to bring in the necessary expertise to begin the osteoarchaeological analysis of the archived remains. All the archival information relating to the licensed archaeological excavation has been collated, as well as all previous expert analyses of the remains, and this is informing the next steps for finalising the assessment. This work is on-going and progress is being made.