General
The period covered is decided by the Minister when he or she appoints a director for a particular location. The Tuam Director was appointed on 23rd May 2023 by Roderic O’Gorman, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for a period of 30 months.
Mr. Daniel MacSweeney was appointed Director, on 23rd May 2023 by Roderic O’Gorman, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for a period of 30 months.
The Director oversees the excavation and recovery of children’s remains at the site of the former Mother and Baby Institution in Tuam. He appoints technical, scientific and administrative staff, consultants and advisors where required. The Director consults with the Advisory Board; liaises with families, siblings, local and community groups; arranges forensic excavation and recovery of remains, post recovery analysis, remedial works on-site and final arrangements.
Annual Accounts are submitted to the Comptroller and Auditor General by 1st April each year outlining the previous year’s spend.
A draft of the Annual Report is submitted to the Advisory Board for consideration and the Annual report is submitted 30th June each year for consideration.
Final copies are submitted to The Minister who presents the accounts to the House of the Oireachtas. The Report is then published on the government website.
In addition, the Director reports, when requested, to Dáil Éireann or other Oireachtas Committees (e.g. PAC) on general administration, the appropriation accounts and the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The Annual Report contains
- A statement of the activities undertaken by the Director
- The name of each person the Director has entered into contract/arrangement with, or appointed as a consultant/advisor, financial statements, etc.
Information Sharing and Data Protection
The Director can request information where he considers a person or organisation have documents of relevance.
To assist in performing his task the Director can request
- Documents containing personal data
- Special categories of personal data
The Director can request information from;
- A relevant Minister, where he/she considers a person may have information or documents of relevance;
- A Department of State;
- A public body who has or had a relevant role in relation to the institutions
- A person who is the holder, controller or processor, of information or documents relating to an institution.
- The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
- The Office of the Ombudsman
- A local authority
- A religious organization or community including but not limited to a diocese or parish of the Roman Catholic Church and a diocese or parish of the Church of Ireland
- A body (other than a company) established by or under statute, or
- A company established pursuant to a power conferred by or under an enactment, and financed wholly or partly by –
- Moneys provided, or loans made or guaranteed by a Minister of Government.
- The issue of shares held by or on behalf of a Minister of Government or
- A company, a majority of the shares in which are held by or on behalf of a Minister of the Government, or
- A person designated by order of the Minister
The Director requests the information in writing;
- Identifying the purpose of the information, the documents required and for how long they will be retained
- Confirming that a copy only of the documents should be provided and specifying its format
- Confirming the safeguards in place regarding storage of the information
- Specifying the time period within which the information and documents are to be provided to the Director.
If the information source fails to comply with a request, the Director may apply to the District Court for an order for same.
Information is processed in accordance with the Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018 which include specific measures for processing personal data and special categories of personal data.
The Institutional Burials Act 2022 has made provisions for the creation of an Advisory Board to provide specific technical advice and guidance to the Director in the performance of his duties.
The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman appoints the Advisory Board for the Tuam Intervention.
The Advisory Board consists of six individuals:
- A chairperson who is a former coroner or someone with coronial expertise.
- Two members with scientific expertise.
- A member of staff of the local authority, nominated by the Minister for Housing, Local Authority and Heritage.
- A member who considers he or she is a family member of a deceased person believed to be buried in the principal burial land.
- A member being a former resident of the institution.
To provide specific technical advice and guidance to the Director.
The Advisory Board meets at least once every 3 months with the Director who provides them with an update on progress.
Minutes of the Advisory Board meetings can be found here.
Post-Recovery Scientific Analysis of Human Remains
The Director ensures international standards and best practices are applied to forensic testing and post-recovery analysis.
Post-recovery analysis includes:
- Conducting an inventory of the human remains present.
- Sorting of remains into individual sets to the degree possible.
- Recording any artefacts and clothing associated with an individual.
- Processing excavation data that will assist with positional information.
- Establishing a biological profile for each individual to the degree possible.
- Recording any individualising features or pathologies.
- Documenting any evidence of trauma.
- Establishing cause and manner of death, where possible.
- Documenting throughout (e.g. photography, radiography, 3D scanning).
- Any other information that can be extracted relating to the remains.
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a molecule found in almost every cell of the human body. It contains all the instructions needed for life and is passed from one generation to the next. Each person's DNA is unique, except in the case of identical twins.
There are two different types of DNA in a cell: nuclear DNA found in the nucleus of the cell, which contains both autosomal DNA and Y-chromosome DNA, and mitochondrial DNA found in the mitochondria of the cell.
A DNA profile is made up of a set of specific DNA markers that are analysed from a person’s DNA. Depending on the type of DNA testing technique used, this DNA profile can be used to distinguish between individuals (except for identical twins) or to infer relationships on both the maternal and paternal sides of a family.
Autosomal DNA provides information about both the paternal and maternal lineage as it is inherited equally from both parents, with autosomal DNA profiles of close relatives being more similar than distant relatives. Y-chromosome DNA provides information about the paternal lineage and is transferred directly from father to son. Therefore, paternal relatives will have the same Y-chromosome DNA profile. Mitochondrial DNA provides information about the maternal lineage and is transferred directly from mother to child (both male and female children). Therefore, maternal relatives will have the same mitochondrial DNA profile.
Eligible family members can give a DNA sample. These are defined as those who have reasonable grounds to believe that they are a child, parent, sibling, half-sibling, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, half-niece, half-nephew, grandniece or grandnephew of a person who is buried at the Tuam site. See "I believe I am a Relative of Someone Buried at the Site"
Unfortuntely not. The Institutional Burials Act 2022 sets out who is eligible to give a DNA Sample, which does not include cousins.
A volunteered DNA sample can be collected from eligible family members following provision of their informed consent. The DNA sample is typically obtained from a self-administered, non-invasive mouth swab that collects buccal cells from the inner lining of the cheeks. This process is relatively simple, quick and painless. The relative’s DNA is extracted from these cells to compare to the DNA extracted from the human remains as part of the DNA matching process.
No, it can be very challenging, and will be affected by the:
- Volume and complexity of human remains recovered from the Site
- Quantity and quality of DNA recoverable from the human remains and how informative the DNA profiles generated are
- Number and type of relatives who provide DNA samples
- Scientific limitations of current forensic testing capabilities, including DNA testing and matching
Forensic Science Ireland will establish and maintain two secure databases for this purpose.
The quantity and quality of DNA able to be recovered from a biological sample, such as a bone or tooth, can be directly affected by the time since death, the type of sample, as well as the environmental conditions that sample was exposed to and for how long. Environmental factors such as exposure to water, soil, oxygen, heat, humidity, ultraviolet light, microorganisms etc. can degrade the DNA over time. Some of these will be relevant for human remains recovered from the Tuam site. In some cases, the quantity and quality of extracted DNA may be insufficient for DNA identification purposes.
Both optimal bone and tooth samples from the human remains and DNA samples from eligible family members will be submitted to Forensic Science Ireland for DNA testing and matching. They will use laboratory techniques to extract DNA from the samples and then analyse specific DNA markers to develop DNA profiles for searching on local DNA databases. If a DNA profile from a bone or tooth sample matches an equivalent DNA profile from an eligible family member, this familial link will be reviewed, confirmed and reported by Forensic Science Ireland. This report will then be considered by ODAIT as part of the multidisciplinary identification process.
A participant can nominate up to two people to be notified of the outcome.
DNA samples collected from eligible family members will only be used by ODAIT for the purposes of establishing familial links with the human remains recovered from the Tuam site. DNA profiles generated from these samples by Forensic Science Ireland will only be uploaded and searched on local DNA databases established and maintained by Forensic Science Ireland specifically for identification efforts specified under the Institutional Burials Act 2022.
Forensic Science Ireland will establish and maintain two databases for DNA matching:
- DNA (Historic Remains) Database: This database will hold DNA profiles from the human remains recovered from the Site (unidentified human remains index), participating family members (family members’ index) and other relevant individuals (elimination index) such as the personnel involved in the excavation and identification processes as a contamination control measure.
- Personal Information (Historic Remains) Database: This database will hold information that may be used to identify a person whose DNA profile is entered into the DNA (Historic Remains) Database for comparison.
The databases can only be searched by:
- The Director of Forensic Science Ireland, or
- A member of staff of Forensic Science Ireland
ODAIT will have a forensic geneticist as part of its team to advise on aspects of the DNA-led identification process. They will also liaise with Forensic Science Ireland, an associated office of the Department of Justice, who has been engaged to provide scientific support to the Director through provision of DNA testing and matching services.
The Institutional Burials Act 2022 specifies that Forensic Science Ireland will forensically test samples, by way of DNA testing and matching using local DNA databases, to support ODAIT in its efforts to identify the human remains recovered from the Site.
If ODAIT finds evidence that human remains recovered from the Site may have died due to violent or unnatural circumstances, or are not those of a person who died while ordinarily resident at the institution, the Director shall, without delay, notify a member of An Garda Síochána and the coroner within whose district the human remains are located.
All functions, rights, liabilities etc., are transferred to the relevant Minister. Final Accounts are prepared by the Director, an audit is conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General and this is presented to the Minister. The report is then laid before each House of the Oireachtas. The Minister undertakes a review and publishes a report on same.
These are deposited with the relevant Minister.
The participant will be informed of the familial link as soon as practicable following a recommendation for identification by the ODAIT Identification Committee and confirmation by the Director.
Where a familial link is identified:
Following the completion of all scientific and forensic analysis, the Director will make the final arrangements as soon as practicable. At the request of the highest-ranking family member, who is alive and not incapacitated, the Director will either return the human remains to them or arrange for the re-interment of the remains at a place selected by that highest ranking family member.
Where there is no family member alive or not incapacitated, the Director will make final arrangements for the human remains in accordance with the stated wishes of the highest-ranking family member who stated such wishes.
Where no familial link is identified:
Unidentified human remains will be buried appropriately and with dignity. All will be memorialised after a consultative process informed by ODAIT’s core values. We will communicate with families and other stakeholders and respect good governance.
The Institutional Burials Act 2022 has provisions for other sites in Ireland to be examined once a Director has been appointed for a particular site. The Tuam Director has been appointed for the Tuam site only and can only exercise his powers with respect to it.