If you’re interested in trivia, if you’re a fan of pub quizzes, you might be familiar with the name Colin Pitchfork. A memorable name, in more ways than one, but a name that would be well known to anybody with a passing interest in forensic science. (And one equally familiar to obsessive quizzers.)

29 years ago, in 1988, British man Colin Pitchfork became the first person ever to be convicted of a crime using evidence from DNA fingerprinting. His crimes were violent and disturbing and his conviction marked a real breakthrough in forensic science.

These days, it seems we take this extraordinary technology for granted as part of our crime-solving armoury. And certainly from the public’s point of view, the enduring success of TV shows like CSI and Sherlock Holmes demonstrates that we have an endless fascination with crime and the tricks of the trade that help to identify and convict the perpetrators.

In Ireland, the team at 'Forensic Science Ireland' (FSI) are the people responsible for analysing evidence taken from crimes scenes on behalf of the Criminal Justice system and their staff are the expert witnesses that appear in court.

Reporting for the Today programme, Evelyn O'Rourke went to visit the team at FSI to find out more about this important work. She started by talking to Dr Sheila Willis, FSI Director General, and one of the longest serving members of the team there. According to Dr Willis:

'Forensic Science Ireland is Ireland’s answer to CSI, if you like. We produce verifiable results to either help investigate crime or to help adjudicate in courts.'

Also busy in the lab on the day Evelyn stopped by was forensic scientist, Dr Martina McBride, who was working on several cases. Amongst them, the case of a woman who says she was sexually assaulted in her bed. Gardaí have a suspect, and they were able to take a sample of his clothes. But could the fibres be matched to samples found on the victim?

This was just one of the cases under investigation at the laboratory, and you can listen to some of the other cases Dr. McBride was working on in the clip above.

Forensic Science Ireland is a part of the Department of Justice. Although not directly connected to the Garda Síochana, they're based at Garda HQ in the Phoenix Park and the gardaí are their chief clients.

It’s a busy department, with around 100 staff. The FSI caseload can broadly be split up into four parts: DNA analysis, sexual assault cases, drugs analysis cases, and chemistry-type cases. Drug cases form about two-thirds of the cases they deal with annually. They also operate Ireland’s DNA database which was set up in November 2015.

Further details about their work can be found on forensicscience.ie

And to listen to Evelyn’s reports in full, click here.

Photo credit: Jesus Alcazar/AFP/Getty Images)