The agency which will oversee access to burial sites, exhumations, excavations, identification and re-interment of remains will "intervene" at the Tuam Mother-and-Baby site as quickly as possible after the Institutional Burials Bill is signed into law.
That is according to Minister Roderic O'Gorman who was before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children, Disability, Equality and Integration.
Following weeks of hearings, the committee concluded pre-legislative hearings on the proposed legislation this evening.
Minister O'Gorman said there was "near consensus" that intervention at the site in Tuam was vital.
The Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns put it to Mr O'Gorman that if it was vital in Tuam, it had to be vital in every other scenario.
Replying, he said that in relation to other "known sites", there was a spectrum of sincerely and strongly held views as to whether infants and children should be exhumed, or their resting places marked but otherwise left undisturbed.
"I have received correspondence ranging from welcoming of the proposed new laws to expressions of deep distress and anxiety that the legislation may lead to what people see as the desecration of the final resting place of loved ones", he said.
Over the course of the committee hearings, there were calls for the coroner to be involved in investigating deaths at Mother-and-Baby institutions.
The bill says the coroner "shall not have jurisdiction" in respect of bodies exhumed from a site for the duration of the agency.
Today, the Chairperson of the Committee, Sinn Féin's Kathleen Funchion, said the power of the coroner "came through strongly" during the hearings, and it was something the committee would have to consider in its recommendations.
The Labour TD Sean Sherlock put it to Minister O'Gorman that he had not adequately addressed the proposal to disapply the power of the coroner.
He said expert witnesses expressed "deep concern" about the disapplication of that power.
Mr O'Gorman said that from a legal point of view, the agency would be required to intervene and exhume. Therefore, he concluded that the involvement of the coroner and local authorities in this regard would be problematic.
However, he said clarity could be provided to ensure that the agency fully works with state bodies, agencies and processes, including the coronial process.
"We're seeking to achieve a clear criteria within the legislation which will guide the Government or future Governments in terms of a decision to intervene in a site or not", he said.
The Minister noted that the issue of compulsory access to dwellings had been raised during the committee hearings.
He said the land access regime in the General Scheme of the bill sought to balance the public interest in conducting interventions with the rights of all those involved.
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Independent Senator Lynn Ruane asked Minister O'Gorman how he could reconcile residents' rights at potential sites over the "economic assessment" of an intervention.
He said he had taken on board that a blanket ban on conducting interventions at residential sites may result in the unintended consequence of sealing off extensive grounds of a single dwelling entirely.
"I hope to bring forward a more nuanced position in due course, balancing constitutional protection for residential property with the undoubted significant public interest objective", he said.
He said it would be the job of a Minister in first instance and a Government in the final instance on whether an intervention is approved at a site or not.
"In terms of a Government taking a decision in a situation like Tuam, where we see such an inappropriate burial arrangement, the economic element would have to be massive not to intervene", he said.
The Fine Gael Senator Mary Seery Kearney noted the RTÉ Series featuring the former State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy who discussed the complexity of the task regarding the identification of remains in Tuam.
She cautioned that closure was not inevitable for all families.
Minister O'Gorman said the use of DNA would enable identification as far as possible, but that it was not certain in every circumstance.
The committee heard that due to Covid-19, the gathering of DNA was delayed because of the face-to-face nature of the process.
Minister O'Gorman said the aim was that the scheme be initiated as quickly as possible following a wider provision of vaccinations.
Fianna Fáil Senator Jennifer Murnane O'Connor expressed concern that Forensic Science Ireland's new office would not open until next year leading to expertise being sought abroad.
Mr O’Gorman said that under the legislation, FSI would have the power to engage in contracts but would also have the capacity to "contract out" and get skills if required.
