Speech
Launch of Institutional Burials Bill (22 February 2022)
From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
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From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Published on
Last updated on
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I would like to thank you all for attending today.
This morning, I received Cabinet approval for publication of the Institutional Burials Bill. This legislation will provide us with a legal basis to finally exhume the remains of children so tragically interred at the site in Tuam, reunite them with their loved ones, and afford them a dignified burial.
What happened at Tuam is a stain on our national conscience. Since coming into this role, I have met with many of the families affected.
In those meetings, I have heard the sense of urgency and frustration around why the exhumation has not happened yet. I share that frustration.
These families want to give their loved ones the respect and dignity they were so grievously denied in their short lives.
The uniquely tragic nature of the site at Tuam means that legislation is required to undertake this work. This will be one of the most complex forensic excavation and recovery efforts ever undertaken, not only in Ireland, but anywhere in the world. It will encompass a DNA identification process on a scale never done before in Ireland.
The legislation we are announcing today gives us the best possible chance of recovering the remains from the site and reuniting them with their loved ones.
Since the General Scheme of the legislation was published, it has been scrutinised by the Oireachtas Committee and others. I met with many families myself and heard the concerns first hand from the people most affected.
I have listened closely and, as a result, made significant changes to the legislation.
Before speaking to the changes made, I want to give a very brief overview of how the legislation will operate. Once passed and enacted, the Government can direct intervention at a site and appoint a Director to head up an Office which will oversee and manage this intervention.
While Tuam will be the first such intervention, the legislation is not site specific and can provide for intervention at other sites should similar situations arise.
While the Director oversees the intervention, a DNA Identification Programme will take samples from relatives in order to establish potential matches with sets of remains, once they are recovered.
The legislation makes provision for identified remains to be returned to family members. The Director can also make arrangements for the re-interment of the remains in manner that reflects the dignity of the deceased, having regard to the wishes of family members.
Since receiving the Pre-Legislative Scrutiny Report, we have worked intensively to strengthen the legislation, taking into account the concerns and issues raised by families, campaigners, and forensic experts.
We have strengthened the Bill in three key ways:
During the Pre-Legislative Scrutiny and in my own engagement with families, a key concern raised was the restriction on the jurisdiction of the coroner contained in the draft Heads of Bill.
Following that consultation, and in line with the Oireachtas Committee’s recommendation, this section in the legislation has been removed entirely.
I want to be clear on this point: Nothing in this legislation will prevent inquests or investigations into the deaths at Tuam.
My first priority is to exhume the remains at the site and reunite them with their loved ones. That is what the families affected have asked of me and this is what is achieved by the legislation.
The Oireachtas Committee’s Report recommended a full investigation of the site at Tuam, and this is now reflected in the Bill published.
The legislation will provide for a phased, forensic-standard investigation of the site at Tuam which comprehensively encompasses excavation, recovery and post-recovery analysis of remains and identification of remains. The legislation clearly states that the forensic process must be undertaken to international standards.
All work will be undertaken to a forensic-standard and the Director must inform An Garda Síochána and the relevant coroner where evidence emerges of a violent or unnatural death or where remains are not those of a person who died while resident in the institution. The Director must also provided a detailed report on the forensic excavation and recovery of human remains, including information on the causes of death, a biological profile of each set of remains and any other information that can be obtained.
I’d like to thank Dr. Niamh McCullagh for her assistance in working with my officials on this section of the legislation and for making it so robust.
I am conscious that trust in this process is not simply a matter of the standard of excavation. It is also about openness and transparency.
The recovery has to a process done in partnership with those most affected by it, namely the families and survivors.
There will now be an Advisory Board for each intervention, to work with the Director, which will include family members and/or former residents.
It will be chaired by a former coroner or someone with coronial expertise. The Director overseeing the intervention will be required to consult with the Advisory Board at regular intervals, including at key decision points in the intervention. The Advisory Board will have two members who are independent forensic expects but it will also have two members who are relatives of those who died in Tuam, or former residents of the institution.
We are also placing a positive obligation on public bodies to disclose information, records and documents to the Director.
A particular concern for families affected by Tuam is to ensure that the final arrangements are appropriate and in line with the wishes of the families.
The legislation explicitly provides that remains will be returned to family members where this is possible or that arrangements can be made in line with their wishes.
At the centre of this legislation is a programme of DNA identification which will require DNA samples from individuals in order to match them with remains exhumed.
DNA testing is a very powerful tool which may reveal information about family relationships to persons other than to the deceased relative.
The legislation has to balance the public interest of identifying remains buried in a manifestly inappropriate manner with the privacy rights of close living relatives.
The General Scheme sought to do this by limiting participation to close living relatives (parent, child, sibling) and providing that, within that, the highest ranking relative had to provide consent or a person would be blocked and could not participate in the programme.
Following Pre-Legislative Scrutiny, the Bill now provides a much more inclusive and flexible approach to balancing these rights, with the aim of supporting wide-ranging participation in the Identification programme.
In summary, it provides that all eligible family members- that is, all first and second order relatives (this means a child, parent, sibling, half-sibling, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew of a person who is buried at an intervention site)- may participate but with provision for the closest living relatives (parent, child, sibling) to object to the participation of other, less closely related, persons.
An objection does not automatically mean that an applicant cannot participate in an Identification Programme and any objection will be considered by the Director in conjunction with consideration of the closeness of the genetic relationship of the person who wishes to participate in the Programme and the public interest of identifying human remains.
Further changes that I have made, again responding to points raised during the PLS process, include:
I spoke earlier about the uniquely tragic site at Tuam.
The situation that emerged there has rightly horrified people all over this country. The Expert Technical Group that examined the site in 2018 highlighted its unprecedented nature with no directly comparable national or international cases.
It suggested that the excavation and identification process is likely to be extremely complex because of the number and age of the children interred there and the fact that they are lying in commingled state.
While this intervention is, therefore, expected to be challenging, the legislation I have published ensures that it will be carried out by professionals in line with international standards and best practice so as to give us the best possible chance of exhuming and identifying the remains there, and returning them to their families. This is the central reason behind this legislation.
I will be bringing the Institutional Burials Bill to the Dáil next week for second stage debate, and I want to see this legislation passed, enacted, and work commencing on the site in Tuam this year. It is long overdue.
Thank you.