State's forensic chief says current facility is unsuitable for Irish DNA database

The head of the State’s forensic science agency has warned that her facility is “unsuitable” for operating the long-awaited DNA database.

Dr Sheila Willis, director general of Forensic Science Ireland, said she is also concerned that construction of its replacement building is not going to begin until 2019.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, who resurrected the project in the budget, has described the FSI’s building as a “1970s office block” which is “outdated and in need of modernisation”.