Excavations are expected to begin at the site next February, when work will commence to exhume the remains of 796 infants – many of whom were buried in a disused sewerage system.
A special body has been set up to oversee the process of exhuming and reburying the remains, as well as trying to identify them and establish the circumstances and causes of death.
The Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention Tuam (DAIT) is now seeking the services of a forensic geneticist with experience of working on missing persons programmes, who will provide advice on DNA technologies used to identify human remains.
The expert will provide advice on an ad hoc basis rather than assuming a full-time role, and the service is expected to cost a total of €500,000 plus VAT, according to tender documents.
The DAIT will oversee the excavation of the former Bon Secours facility early next year, recovering the remains and conducting analysis and identification. It will then either return remains to family members or arrange for a respectful re-interment in consultation with family members.
“The main objectives of the intervention can be summarised as affording dignity to the children who were manifestly inappropriately interred at the Tuam site by reburying them in a respectful manner and if possible, identifying them and establishing circumstances and causes of death,” the tender documents state.
The forensic geneticist will have experience in the application of various DNA technologies, as well as experience in developing communication materials for the public on the use of those technologies.
They will also be expected to engage with various government departments and collaborate with DNA laboratories to develop working protocols and procedures, as well as compiling a DNA database.
They will be required to advise on “the challenges” that may be encountered involving the use of DNA to identify human skeletal remains in the context of the Tuam excavation.
The geneticist will be a focal point for receiving genetic match information from Forensic Science Ireland (FSI), and will review other relevant data from the public body.
It is anticipated that the excavations will involve the complex analysis and identification of “intermingled” remains. There are no burial records for 796 children who died at the home between 1925 and 1961.
Local historian, Catherine Corless, believes that “box burials” occurred from 1925 until around 1938, but deceased babies were placed in the defunct chambers of a sewerage system from about 1940 onwards.