Academics and genomics experts have said the wishes of relatives of children buried at the site of the former mother and baby home in Tuam should be “paramount” in the planned excavation of remains at the site.
The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes found that 978 children had died at the Co Galway home run by the Bon Secours Sisters, where conditions were described as “dire”.
On Tuesday, Daniel Mac Sweeney was appointed by the Government to oversee the excavation of the Tuam site, to allow for remains to be exhumed and reinterred respectfully, something campaigners have called for over many years.
He has previously worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross on schemes to identify the fate of people unaccounted for from conflicts in the Caucasus.
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While Mr Mac Sweeney is to first engage with relatives, survivors and former residents of the residential institution, it is expected work to exhume remains may begin at the site later this year.
Prof David MacHugh, professor of functional genomics in University College Dublin (UCD), said in the last five years technology to extract genetic detail from remains had “improved dramatically”.
This should allow for “very detailed genetic profiles from samples”, particularly from the petrous bone in the skull, he said. The main issue would be how to match those samples to potential living relatives, he said.
Large consumer genomic databases, such as those run by companies like 23andMe, would be “easier in principle” to find a match for samples, however they raised potential data protection or consent issues, he said.
The more “straightforward” approach would be for relatives to come forward to volunteer a DNA sample, which could then be matched against the genetic profiles of remains, Prof MacHugh said.
The “paramount” concern should be what relatives of those who were buried at the site wanted, he said.
The planned work at Tuam follows legislation that came into effect last July, allowing for excavations of remains from the sites of former residential institutions.
Dr Steve Donoghue, who has a PhD in molecular pathology, said the use of advanced new DNA technology by State forensic investigators in the upcoming work was welcome. However, the existing DNA database in Ireland was “quite small”, he said.
“The gardaí will need to communicate with putative relatives and obtain their DNA with the appropriate consents,” to facilitate matches, he said.
Toni Maguire, a forensic archaeologist and anthropologist, said the actual number of babies buried in Tuam could be higher than the 978 identified by historian Catherine Corless through an examination of death certificates.
“That is going to be a long process and they’re going to have to start DNA profiling, comparing that with samples from living relatives. That’s just going to take a huge amount of time” she told RTÉ's Morning Ireland show.
“Their objective is to recover everything that is recoverable. The real work will then start once all that material has been returned to the team’s headquarters and they start to identify how many individuals we are actually dealing with,” she said.
When asked if similar examinations needed to take place at sites of other former Mother and Baby Homes, such as Bessborough and Sean Ross Abbey, Ms Maguire said “absolutely, without a doubt”.
