State’s forensic laboratory plans to be ‘reactivated’

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has ordered her officials to “reactivate” shelved plans to build a proper laboratory for the State’s neglected forensic science agency.

Plans to provide a modern laboratory for Forensic Science Ireland have been aborted or postponed repeatedly over the last 15 years. Last March, the head of the service stated in the Oireachtas that the agency was in “crisis” in terms of its facilities and staffing levels.

FSI director Sheila Willis told the Oireachtas Justice Committee that in her 35 years working in the service there seemed to be “no systematic planning” by successive governments and departments as to its work.