Law to allow exhumation of mother and baby sites published

Bill allows for forensic excavation of remains at the former Tuam mother and baby home, where the bodies of almost 800 infants and young children are believed to have been buried

Mother and Baby Home survivor Carmel Larkin holding a baby's coffin in Tuam. Exhumation at the site may allow families identify loved ones through DNA identification.  Photo: Andy Newman

Long-awaited legislation to allow for excavation and exhumation of remains on mother and baby home sites has been published.

The bill, once passed, will allow for forensic excavation, recovery, and analysis of remains at the former Tuam mother and baby home, where the bodies of almost 800 infants and young children are believed to have been buried in a sewage tank.

It will also allow DNA-based identification to be undertaken to reunite families with the remains of their loved ones, and will ensure that the children there have the dignified burial that has been denied to them for so long.

Publishing the Institutional Burials Bill 2022, Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman said a number of significant changes had been made following concerns expressed by families and campaigners.

He said the restriction on the jurisdiction of the coroner has been removed entirely. This had been raised as a significant issue by campaigners who had said the measure would prevent inquests being held.

Speaking on the Bill, Minister O’Gorman said: “What happened at Tuam is a stain on our national conscience. The Institutional Burials Bill will allow us, at long last, to afford the children interred at Tuam a dignified and respectful burial.

 I have listened carefully to families, survivors, and independent experts in order to strengthen and improve the legislation, and this is reflected in the Bill approved by Government today.

The legislation will allow the Government, by order, to direct an intervention at a site and to approve the appointment of a Director to oversee and manage a phased, step-by-step approach, comprising some or all of the following steps:

• Excavation of the site
• Recovery of human remains
• Post recovery analysis of remains to support, where possible, establishing circumstances and cause of death
• Identification of remains through DNA familial matching
• Return of remains to family members or respectful re-interment.

Mr O'Gorman said: “It is now five years since remains were confirmed at the site in Tuam, and I believe that the families affected have had to wait far too long for exhumation to commence. The legislation we are publishing today will allow us to move forward, in partnership with Tuam families, survivors, and their advocates, and finally reunite them with their loved one’s remains.

Debate on the Bill, which would allow for excavations on other mother and baby homes sites beyond Tuam, will now begin in the Oireachtas at the start of March.