Tuam work will be ‘a model for the world’

FORENSIC experts from America, Ireland, South Africa and Australia will be working in the new laboratory facility at Toghermore in a bid to match DNA they hope to retrieve from infants’ remains with any living relatives.

At the entrance to a quiet family area at the laboratory, a list of the 796 names dating from 1925 to 1960 hangs on the wall. It’s a stark reminder about the core purpose of the excavation.

While it won’t be possible to identify all of the remains, as they are unearthed from the site they will be handled with extreme care and each team member will play a part in trying to tell their individual story - who they were, how they died and what type of life they had.

It is just over a year since formal excavation works began at the Tuam site and Director Daniel MacSweeney confirmed that he expects the work to go beyond the initial two-year expected timeframe, due to the complexity of the site.

A further 22 coffined infants were discovered over the past six weeks and were again found in a burial/grave site that is located away from what is known as the memorial garden where significant intermingled remains were discovered in 2016 in a disused sewage tank.

Up to now the excavated remains have been kept at a temporary facility in Headford but they will now be brought to the Forensic Laboratory and Mortuary in Tuam which will also act as a base for the ODAIT’s team. The extensive project has cost €4.1 million including €1.6 million spent on the fit out of the laboratory.

So far 62 DNA samples have been collected and these will be going to Forensic Science Ireland for analysis who will store them to be ready to compare with the DNA profiles that hope to be extracted from the recovered remains. The ODAIT has spoken to over 200 people who may have close relatives buried at the site and legislation is to be passed later this year to allow the DNA of first cousins to be taken.

“We are keenly aware that families are seeking answers,” said Mr MacSweeney.

Dr. Niamh McCullagh, Forensic Archaeologist, who was part of the initial test excavation of the memorial garden site in 2016, said there is “no comparable site in the world” to Tuam. She said the methods being used in Tuam offer the best opportunity to recover and identify the remains. The team of experts – many of whom are coming to Tuam from around the world – are undertaking a task that has never been done before.

Dr. McCullagh said the work of the forensic team is “physically and emotionally challenging”. Their motivation remains the same. “We all have the one goal to have each of the individuals recognised as individuals, to discover who they were and how they died.”

Dr. Allysha P. Winburn is the Forensic Laboratory Co-ordinator of the ODAIT who will lead the anthropological analysis of the infants remains. She was living in Florida when she applied for the job in Tuam and is now based in Galway. Other experts in areas such as dental and photographic forensics are coming around the world.

“The remains require exquisite care,” remarked Dr. Winburn.

Oran Finnegan is Forensic Programme Manager who will oversee the forensic process in Tuam. “We will look to tell the stories for each set of remains that have been discovered.”

He said the age of the individuals, the length of time since their death, the co-mingling of remains and the environment all present challenges. He said the work being carried out in Tuam is a world-first and will be a model for the world.

“Science will never be able to answer everything, but we will utilise it the best that we can to tell a story of these individuals as possible.”