Work to allow for the excavation of a burial ground at the former mother-and-baby home in Tuam, Co Galway, will begin next Monday.
It is the latest step in the ongoing effort to try and identify the remains of infants who died at the home, between 1925 and 1961.
The site, in the Dublin Road estate in Tuam, will be cordoned off and placed under forensic control over the next four weeks.
This will entail the installation of a 2.4 metre high hoarding around the perimeter of the land in question, as well as the installation of a number of facilities required to commence the formal excavation process.
The start of the operation to limit access to the location follows detailed preparatory surveys there in recent months. That has involved the use of ground penetrating radar, along with soil sampling and topographical analysis.
In 2017, the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes determined that "significant quantities of human remains" were buried in and around a former sewage facility at the home, after research by local historian Catherine Corless first brought the issue to global attention in 2014.
It revealed there were no burial records for 796 babies and young children who died there during the 36 years it operated.
The excavation, and subsequent efforts to catalogue and identify the remains, is being overseen by a new body specially established for the task.
The Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention (ODAIT) has been briefing survivors and relatives of those who died at the home about the plans, as they progress.
Director Daniel MacSweeney has repeatedly emphasised the need to ensure they are thoroughly appraised of the work that will be carried out.
While it is difficult to provide a definite timeframe for the completion of the excavation and exhumation process, it is expected to take at least two years.
DNA samples gathered from relatives will be cross referenced with bone fragments recovered from the site, in an effort to reunite the infant remains with the families of their descendants.
A small number of samples have already been taken from older descendants of those who died in the home. A wider call for others to provide DNA will be made in the next few months.
The presence of remains has already been confirmed in chambers under a part of the site, which has been maintained as a memorial garden for several decades. But a broader area, totalling around 5,000sq/m, which takes in a playground and adjoining land, will also be carefully excavated.
Mr MacSweeney said the work will be carried out in a meticulous fashion, to the highest international standards.
In the first instance, those involved will be examining if ground that is exposed has been disturbed over the last century. In turn, that will lead to more detailed searches in specific places.
Mr MacSweeney said the size of infant bones, deterioration over time and the possibility that remains were "co-mingled", all complicate the task that is being undertaken.
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Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, he said that a particular challenge was the size of the bones of the infants, as the largest bone in a child is the femur, which is the size of one of the digits of an adult's finger.
He added that the length of time they have been in the ground would also be a challenge.
He described the undertaking as "complex" due to the size of the site and said the aim of excavation is to recover human remains, using the same high standards as a garda investigation scene
Mr MacSweeney said there are 18 forensic specialists involved, and two groups will be working on different parts of the site alongside builders and engineers, so there could be 20-30 people on the site at any time.
The discovery of human remains linked to the Famine in recent years will also have to be factored into the analysis of any bone fragments recovered.
The ODAIT expects to break ground on the site by mid July but the final timetable "will depend on many variables, some of which may only become fully clear as the work progresses".
Mr MacSweeney said that the cost for the year ahead is €9.4 million but there are still a lot of unknowns.
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Access to the site will be restricted from next Monday, with 24 hour security monitoring in place.
Relatives and survivors will be invited to view the site works, on a day set aside for this purpose, in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, anyone wishing to visit the memorial garden prior to the commencement of the excavation process, is asked to do so before Sunday evening.
