National DNA database used to aid nearly 1,000 criminal probes 

There were 759 hits on the database in 2021, and it assisted in 920 investigations.

The national DNA database was used to aid 920 investigations last year, with the system’s oversight committee concluding its “crime-solving capacity continues to grow”.

The criminal justice system in Ireland is dependent on the DNA database, which was first launched in 2015, “to an ever increasing extent”, according to the oversight body.

However, concerns were raised about the “robustness and technology” over its hardware and IT systems, which will be kept “under review”.

A planned merging of IT systems with the Department of Justice had not yet happened by the end of 2021 and the committee’s request of an “independent security penetration testing of the system” had not yet been undertaken.

“This matter will remain a key focus [in 2022],” it said.

The committee, chaired by a judge and including the deputy data protection commissioner and the former head of the Garda Technical Bureau, said the number of DNA profiles on the database at the end of 2021 was 58,703.

This included 43,471 convicted offenders or known suspects and 946 profiles on the identification index, which includes profiles from missing persons or unidentified human remains.

Two potential matches can occur when a new profile is added to the database. A crime stain can match another crime stain, suggesting a link between crimes, or the crime stain can match to a person, suggesting a link between the person and the crime.

There were 759 hits on the database in 2021, and it assisted in 920 investigations. At the end of last year, 48 out of every 100 crime scene samples will be linked to a person, the committee said.

It said it was satisfied that Forensic Science Ireland, which administers the database, has taken appropriate measures to ensure the system is not improperly accessed by any person and that information is not improperly disclosed to any person.

The database is also linked in with other European countries, under the Prüm Treaty. This allows for the automated searching and comparison of DNA profiles across multiple jurisdictions such as Britain, the Netherlands, Austria, Latvia, Slovakia, Poland, Sweden, Estonia, Malta, Germany and France.

Each time there’s a “hit” on the database, it requires a follow-up report from Forensic Science Ireland, with any further investigative working carried out by Interpol and other agencies.

“To a significant extent, the largest proportion of these matches were with the United Kingdom,” the oversight committee said.

Last year, there were 411 occasions when samples from an Irish crime scene matched the DNA of an individual on the UK database. There were a further 173 cases where DNA from a crime scene in the UK matched a person on the Irish database.

An issue of concern for the oversight committee was the taking of samples from An Garda Síochána for their inclusion on the “elimination index”. As per the law, when investigating a crime, this is for “ascertaining whether that person has contaminated a crime scene sample”.

The committee said it raised this matter during a meeting with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and it remains an issue “of concern”.

“It was noted in the course of the meeting that a protocol in relation to this matter was expected to be finalised within a short period and it is hoped that this will lead to further clarity,” the committee said.