ODAIT is committed to helping people who are unsure of their family’s relationship to the Tuam institution to understand that relationship better, to establish if they are related to a person who is buried at the Tuam site, and to establish if they are an eligible family member, while at all times respecting GDPR and our Privacy Policy.
Under the staged approach of the Institutional Burials Act 2022, DNA samples will be collected by ODAIT under the Identification Programme at a later date. In the interim, DNA samples are collected by officials of DCEDIY under the Administrative Scheme (details below) on request by ODAIT.
Identification Programme
Under the Tuam Identification Programme, ODAIT will collect DNA samples from eligible family members and these DNA samples will be used in efforts to identify human remains (‘to establish a familial link’) that ODAIT has recovered from the Tuam site.
The Act defines eligible family members as people 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.
Part 4 of the Act governs ‘IDENTIFICATION OF HUMAN REMAINS AND RELATED PROVISIONS IN RESPECT OF SAMPLES AND DNA PROFILES’ and Chapter 2 of Part 4 (s s.42 to s.50) governs the Identification Programme
The staged approach foreseen by the Institutional Burials Act 2022 requires certain things to happen before ODAIT can collect DNA samples from all eligible family members under the Tuam Identification Programme, including under s.46(5) a determination that DNA of sufficient quality to generate profiles and enable identifications is present in a sample recovered from the Tuam site.
Once that has occurred, the Director will begin the Tuam Identification Programme by launching a Public Information Campaign. This will raise awareness that an Identification Programme is taking place and (in accordance with the Institutional Burials Act 2022 (Section 80) Regulations 2024) how eligible family members can register an:
- Interest in participating in the Tuam Identification Programme and providing a DNA sample.
- Objection to another person’s participation in the Tuam Identification Programme.
- Interest in receiving the remains of an identified relative.
Collection of DNA samples from all eligible family members will happen at that stage.
Administrative Scheme
In the interim, pursuant to an Administrative Scheme established by Minister Roderic O’Gorman, officials of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Inclusion and Youth (DCEDIY) can take DNA samples from eligible family members who are elderly and/or vulnerable and, therefore, require a DNA sample to be taken on a more urgent basis. Please note that providing a DNA sample under the Administrative Scheme is entirely voluntary.
If you believe that you are related to a person buried at the Tuam site, are an eligible family member and would like to provide a DNA sample, click here.
If you believe that you are related to a person buried at the Tuam site but are unsure of the details or the nature of the relationship, we would like to hear from you:
- To clarify your relationship and your family’s relationship to the Tuam institution.
- To consider the possibility that there is another living family member who may be eligible to give a DNA sample.
If you believe that you are related to a person buried at the Tuam site and you fall outside of the definition of eligible family member (e.g. you are a cousin), we would like to hear from you:
- To clarify your relationship and your family’s relationship to the Tuam institution.
- To consider the possibility that there is another living family member who may be eligible to give a DNA sample.
- To hear your concerns and wishes.
- To contribute to the consultation for the memorialisation process.
- To be kept up to date on work of ODAIT.
If you believe you are eligible to provide a sample under the Administrative Scheme or to discuss the above, we would like to hear from you.
Contact details:Email: info@dait.ie Phone: +353 1 5391777 Post: Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention Tuam, Customs House, Flood Street, Galway, H91XV2C.
Update:The first DNA sample was taken under the Administrative Scheme in October 2023 and DNA samples continue to be taken.
