Sligo Abbey has been described as the jewel in Sligo's heritage crown. Located in the heart of the town, the history of the abbey is the history of Sligo, both being founded in the mid-13th century. Built by the FitzGeralds, the centre of spiritual life was rebuilt following an accidental fire in 1414. Surviving the destructive reforms of Henry VIII and Elizabethan settlement, the abbey was abandoned following its desecration by the Cromwellian forces but it continued to serve as a place of burial for the people of Sligo. Its graves bear witness to the cholera epidemic of 1832 before finally being closed to burials in 1847 at the height of the Famine. The building retains a wealth of features from different eras, a rich diversity of architectural and sculptural styles surpassing much on view in other heritage sites.

The quality of the offering means a record 45,603 people visited Sligo Abbey in 2025, up 33% on the year before, making the abbey County Sligo's most visited heritage site. Despite this attraction, it closes from the end of December until the middle of March each year. This causes disruption to the rhythm of the year as well as to the staff team who must either sign on for the period or find alternative employment. This has resulted in experienced and talented guides finding employment elsewhere. The national tourism strategy, A New Era for Irish Tourism, explicitly prioritises the extension of the tour season and developing less mature regional destinations. Increasing year-round tourism is the number one objective in the Fáilte Ireland destination and experience development plan for Sligo. The nearest comparable town-centre, OPW-managed site in the region is Donegal Castle, which operates year-round. Donegal has seen domestic tourism growth of 176% over the past decade compared with 47% in Sligo over the same period. This illustrates what can be done. Year-round opening has played a part in Donegal's success and is one that could easily be replicated in Sligo immediately and at very little cost. The record-breaking visitor number from last year was achieved without capital investment or facility upgrades. None are required to facilitate year-round opening. The heating has to stay on in the visitor centre year-round to prevent damage whether the attraction is open or not. Laying off staff and paying jobseeker's allowance for two and a half months each year rather than wages they want to earn means savings achieved are minimal. The marginal cost of keeping a small core staff in place is low and the benefits to the town centre economy, particularly on Sundays and Mondays when other town attractions are closed, is disproportionately high.

Sligo County Council has indicated its support for year-round opening. Just last month, my Labour Party colleague, Councillor Ann Higgins, was fully backed by all council members in a motion to provide for year-round opening. The local authority has invested in a coach parking bay outside the entrance of the abbey. The abbey features in the county council's new AI itinerary tool. It is the first of its kind in the country. Sligo Abbey features prominently in it. The record number achieved last year was the culmination of ten years' hard work on the part of the heritage professionals on the ground. The overall number has trebled from around 15,000 ten years ago. Will the Minister of State take the steps required to ensure Sligo Abbey can be open for visitors year-round? It is a reasonable request. It is fully backed by Sligo BID, a business community, and the Sligo local authority. It would pay dividends in the cultural, social and economic impact it will have on our town.

I thank Senator Cosgrove for raising this important issue. I apologise the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, cannot be here. The Senator certainly whetted the appetite for a visit. In her wonderful contribution she illustrated the merits of Sligo Abbey. I thank her for that. It is, as the Senator said, a national monument in State care of significant architectural and cultural importance. She spoke about the fact that it goes back to the 13th century. If one were to analyse it, Sligo Abbey is one of the most complete surviving medieval monastic sites in Ireland and has been in State care since the 19th century. With recent television programmes such as "Nationwide" and others, that monastic life is one we should look at and revisit.

The Office of Public Works has statutory responsibility for its protection, conservation and presentation, ensuring its long-term preservation while facilitating appropriate public access. The key point for us which the Senator referenced in her contribution is that it is a significant site within the OPW's heritage estate and is one of the most visited sites in the north west, with the visitor number going from 27,000 in 2022 to almost 39,000 in 2023 and 34,000 in 2024. We are told the figures for last year exceeded 45,000. A key driver of this are the four guides which the Senator referenced. I thank the OPW guide service in Sligo Abbey and pay tribute to them on the service which benefits all of us. They are a dedicated and highly experienced guiding team who provide an extraordinary amount of expert interpretation, guided tours, educational engagement with schools and tailored experiences which suit group visitors and tour operators. The service is consistent with other guide services across the OPW estate. A strong emphasis is placed by the OPW on storytelling, accessibility and local connection significantly enhancing the visitor experience.

In addition, Sligo Abbey delivers a diverse programme of events significantly enhancing the cultural and community value, working with Sligo County Council and other stakeholders. This includes initiatives during Heritage Week, Culture Night, Christmas programming and a successful St. Patrick's Day event.

The important point is the event attracted almost 700 visitors in a single day, with strong engagement from local families and first-time visitors, demonstrating the effectiveness of targeted programming in expanding audiences. As the Senator said, it is the most visited heritage site and it is an important one. The key point for the Government and the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, is strong collaboration at local and regional levels. That is paramount to the success of Sligo Abbey. The OPW works with Fáilte Ireland, Sligo County Council and a variety of other stakeholders, tourism bodies, educational establishments and community organisations. The work aligns with the national and regional tourism policy framework, including A New Era for Irish Tourism: National Tourism Policy Statement and the Fáilte Ireland Sligo destination and experience development plan.

Opening arrangements for Sligo Abbey are kept under continuous review, taking account of visitor demand, conservation requirements, health and safety considerations and the sustainable allocation of staffing and financial resources. In this context, the OPW has already taken significant steps to extend access. Last year, the visitor season was extended by six weeks. Building on that progress, this season will run from 14 March to 30 December. That is an increase to a ten-month window for Sligo Abbey and puts it on a par with many of the OPW's larger and more visited heritage sites nationally. The extended season has enabled a stronger focus on the shoulder or off-peak season, where targeted programming has proven effective in attracting domestic tourism and supporting local economic activity.

The seasonal opening schedule is long established across the OPW's suite of heritage estates but the Senator makes a good point. It is based on established patterns of visitation and alignment with tour operators' schedules. I agree with the Senator that the year-round offering should be looked at more because we are looking to attract more home investment in tourist attractions. I will bring her points back to the Minister of State because she has made some good points.

I welcome the Bray School Project primary school group. They are guests of Senator Craughwell. Enjoy your visit to Leinster House. It is tradition in Leinster House that visiting school groups get the day off from homework, so enjoy your evening as well.

I thank the Aire Stáit for his response and support. It is welcome that the season has been extended by six weeks but it leaves the staff in a precarious position. They have to sign on, which makes no sense, or else they have to get new jobs for that season. This could eventually lead to all that experience and knowledge being lost. Sligo Abbey has in the past few years been looking at festivals throughout the year. It has put on a huge amount of stuff around Christmas, working with things like Music Generation Sligo. It has transformed the space. For St. Brigid's Day, there were carvings in the abbey to mark our patron saint. They were going to build things around that but, unfortunately, it will be closed. It is the same for St. Valentine's Day. There is a love knot carving in the abbey. It will be open for St. Patrick's Day.

In fairness to the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, he has shown commitment to it. It would be great if the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, could bring this suggestion back to him. We see the impact it has had at Donegal Castle. As the Minister of State said, the shoulder season is an important part of the year, particularly for rural towns.

I welcome the students - céad míle fáilte - and thank them for being here. I thank the teachers for being here as well. I hope they enjoy the homework off. The students should get homework off tomorrow night because they are probably not in school to get homework today. Let us give them tomorrow night off as well.

We need to think differently about tourism in the world we live in, with the threats happening geopolitically. We must look at homegrown tourism and the shoulder season. I give the Senator a commitment that I will bring her comments back. The OPW will continue to monitor patterns closely and respond appropriately to demand. It has demonstrated its commitment to supporting local economic activity through initiatives in Sligo and across the wider heritage estate: extended opening periods, enhanced programming and strong stakeholder collaboration.

I thank Sligo County Council for its collaboration on parking and accessibility, along with Fáilte Ireland and local stakeholders, to improve access and the visitor experience in a manner that is sustainable, responsible and fully consistent with the long-term conservation of this important national monument. Conservation and sustainability are two important points.

The Senator made a great point about the love knot on St. Valentine's Day. We could nearly all go to Sligo for St. Valentine's Day next year. We have a Kerryman in the audience and he could do with a bit of love after losing the league final to Donegal.

It is an important contribution the Senator has made. We are committed to heritage and heritage sites. Those of us who, like the Senator, love history and tourism recognise the importance of what she has said. I will take it back for her.

The recent bad weather across the country has taken its toll on all our road networks. The roads on the local improvement scheme, LIS, are now mud tracks. It is with a deep sense of frustration and sadness that I once again highlight the crisis facing many families across rural Kerry under the LIS. Kerry County Council has shown time and again it has the capacity and commitment to deliver under the scheme. It is ready and able to utilise up to €5 million per annum, yet the allocation provided remains at approximately €2.2. million - less than half of what is needed and of what can be effectively spent.

Behind those figures lies a stark human reality. When the scheme opened, over 800 roads applied and 706 qualified. On average, a population of about 10,000 people live on those roads. There are over 550 applicants still on the LIS waiting list in Kerry. At the current pace, 20 to 30 roads are completed each year, so many are facing a weight of up to 20 years. That is not a delay; it is a lifetime.

I recently spoke to an elderly couple. I spoke to the mom of the house. She is 78 and her husband is 83. They have been on the list since the scheme opened. The sad reality of their situation is they may not live to see their road improved. After years of waiting patiently, imagine knowing the road outside your home, the road you depend on every day, may not be fixed in your lifetime. They are No. 320 on the list. They will not see that road in their lifetime. That is the sad news I have to bring on this occasion. This is my third time speaking on this. They are not alone.

These roads are not luxuries; they are basic access routes. Some ambulances are struggling to travel them. Emergency services are being delayed. Elderly people are left cut off because transport providers will not bring them to day care services due to the condition of their roads. People are being isolated in their own homes, not by distance, but by neglect.

This is one of the most serious and overlooked road issues we face in Kerry today. What makes it all the more difficult to accept is that, in other counties, funding is not being fully drawn down. In some cases, allocations are being returned to the Department. At the same time in Kerry, we have shovel-ready roads, willing applicants and a council ready to deliver. This cannot continue. If funding is not being used elsewhere, it must be redirected to where the need is greatest – that is clearly in Kerry. Every euro left idle in one county is a year added to the waiting list for the families I mentioned.

Kerry also has one of the highest number of private roads in the country requiring improvement. That reality must be recognised at a national level, which I think it is not. The scheme needs to be examined through that lens and Kerry must be prioritised accordingly.

This is not just about infrastructure. It is about fairness, safety and the basic dignity of all our people. We cannot continue to ask people to wait decades for something as fundamental as access to their own homes and we cannot accept a situation where emergency services are put at risk or elderly people are effectively cut off from the supports they depend on. I call on the Minister of State not just to review the scheme, but to act decisively, to increase funding for Kerry in 2026, to redirect unused allocations from other counties and to ensure this growing frustration is finally addressed.

I thank Senator Kennelly for again raising the important matter of the local improvement scheme. He is right. The profound weather is having a huge implication for these roads and I accept the points he made. It is not his first time raising the matter. I have listened to his contributions and will take them back to the Minister, Deputy Calleary.

It is important to note that the focus of the scheme is to continue supporting the improvement of non-public rural roads and laneways that are not normally maintained by local authorities. The Senator is right that these roads are not luxuries. They represent a vital piece of infrastructure for the people he speaks about and champions, and he has done so regularly. They provide important connectivity in communities across rural Ireland, particularly in Kerry, enhancing access to homes, farmland and amenities. The support for these schemes can be seen in their popularity at local level. I can attest to the success of the scheme because of the level of demand and interest and the joy of people who are successful.

Since the scheme was introduced in 2017, the Government has allocated over €201 million to local authorities. Our Rural Future, the Government's national rural development policy, clearly recognises the important role the LIS plays in rural Ireland and commits to ensuring that the scheme is funded into the future. The programme for Government also recognises the benefits provided under the scheme and is committed to provision of additional funding for the LIS. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I are committed to ensuring the scheme continues to be well funded in the coming years. In February, we confirmed funding of €17.5 million for the LIS in 2026, which represents an increase on the base funding announced in previous years. In August last year, and following the confirmation of €16.5 million in funding for 2025, we will likely be able to provide an additional second round of funding to local authorities under the 2025 scheme, which almost doubled the previous allocation committed and saw the 2025 budget increase to €30 million, the highest annual level since the scheme's introduction.

Senator Kennelly will be glad to know that in County Kerry additional funding was made available to Kerry County Council under the second round of funding to the tune of €1.2 million. This brought the funding for Kerry last year to €22.2 million, which was a 44% increase in the budget from the previous year. I accept there are delays and people still waiting. Our Department provides funding for the scheme. It is administered by the local authorities, which are responsible for the management of waiting lists, scheme applications and determining the eligibility of roads. Our officials continue to be engaged with Kerry County Council to ensure that the funding is being fully utilised.

While in previous years, as the Senator referenced, a number of small communities and local authorities did not spend their entire LIS allocation and returned money, we have asked our local government colleagues to ensure this will not happen again. To try to understand and limit underspends and maximise works completed each year, Department officials engage with local authorities to understand where full spending may not occur and the potential to redistribute funds to local authorities that may be in a position to utilise funds. As the Senator knows, County Kerry did not return money last year because it spent its full allocation. Using underspends from elsewhere our Department was able to provide a further €64,000 in works over and above the county’s approved budget.

The Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I understand the importance of this scheme, which is about supporting the upkeep of non-public roads and laneways for people in rural Ireland and in particular for our farm families. These roads provide vital access to lands and rural homes. The scheme is also used to fund non-public roads leading to important community amenities such as graveyards, beaches, piers, mountain access points and other heritage or tourism sites. I reaffirm my commitment and that of the Minister to the local improvement scheme and commend the work of local authorities across rural Ireland that administer it, particularly Kerry. I thank the Senator for again raising the matter. It is a necessary support to encourage and maintain our rural communities and this is reflected in the Government’s and our commitment to the scheme.

I thank the Minister of State for his response. As we both stated, everyone welcomes the €2.2 million for Kerry, but we have told the Department that €5 million is needed to put any strain on this to take an extra 30 or 40 roads off this LIS scheme per annum. We did not get that. The frustration I show today is because when other counties give back their allocations I do not know where that money goes. Did it go back into other roads or funding mechanisms within Kerry? I am not sure. I am not aware. The people I speak for today are the people living on these private roads, which are not accessible any more. The last six months have really deteriorated the scheme. I am calling for a specific review and a special hearing for Kerry County Council and its CEO to go to the Department, with his cap, looking for the extra €2.8 million to come up to €5 million so they can complete in one given year. They cannot do over that because of staffing and so on. However, they can do €5 million. That is what we need to get anywhere with that list and take away the heartache these people are going through.

I hear what the Senator has said and the figure of €5 million he mentioned. Kerry County Council has been allocated over €1.3 million for the LIS this year bringing its total allocation to €12.7 million since 2017. I encourage and support our local authorities to ensure the continued and effective use of this funding in supporting our rural communities. It is an important scheme. The programme for Government makes clear its support for the LIS and the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I are committed to ensuring this funding continues to be utilised in an efficient and effective manner. We will hold the councils to account in the case of underspend and underutilisation. We expect local authorities to continue to deliver efficiently on the scheme across Ireland. It has a huge benefit. Our officials will continue to engage to ensure the funding is fully utilised.

I will ask officials to review the allocation mechanism to look at how we can allocate and reallocate available funding for the schemes to County Kerry. The Senator said there is an extraordinary number of roads and a high number of applicants waiting. I think 580 are waiting for approval. I will sit down with the Senator and work with him to see what we can do to ensure the fund for Kerry is increased. I will not make any false promises but the points he makes are valid. They are a lifeline for rural communities. It is about accessibility to their own farmland and to tourism and heritage sites. I hear what he is saying and I will bring his remarks back.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach seo inniu. I thank the Minister of State for taking time out of his schedule to be here.

Monaghan and Cavan county councils, that of the Minister of State and many other local authorities around the country are undergoing a process referred to as the register of electors’ data cleansing project. In layperson's language, that means trying to tidy up the register. It is a huge volume of work. As I am sure Senator Tully has done, I have spoken to colleagues in local authorities in Cavan and Monaghan about this issue. Thousands of letters have gone out to people to try to get them to update their information. It is important to say that at this point nobody has been taken off the register, but those who have not responded after receiving three letters from the local authorities will be taken off. I advise anybody to return the correspondence or call in to speak to the people involved.

Voter.ie will be the new vehicle for the provision for online registration across the country, a rolling register and a new national local government electoral register. We all appreciate that accuracy indicators are key for an online accurate electoral register in which there are no faults, no duplicates, no incorrect entries, and where all the data held for an entry are correct and each person is registered only once. Based on reported data, it is estimated that 11 local authorities have more people on their local electoral register than the entire population of those counties, which is a staggering statistic. A complete register is one on which those who are eligible electors are registered on each of the electoral registers. The accuracy of the electoral registers, as well as how they are managed and maintained, is fundamental to our democratic process.

Accuracy needs resources in the long term to ensure the management of our electoral register is improved and maintained. I ask the Minister of State whether he is happy there are sufficient staff to undertake this huge volume of work. Communication with the public is vital in the pursuit of accuracy and to ensure people understand what is happening and why. I would be grateful if the Minister of State could make a statement on where we are at with this entire process and what other measures, from the point of view of publicity, we can take to ensure when the process is complete that we have a document which is accurate and in which people can have confidence that those on the register are entitled to be on it and are only on the register once.

I thank Senator Gallagher for raising this important issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy James Browne. The Electoral Reform Act 2022 provided for significant changes to streamline and modernise the electoral registration process, including the introduction of continuous and online registration, as well as the use of PPSNs in the registration process, making it easier for people to check and update their information. In the intervening period, over 1 million applications for updates to the register have been made by the public through the online portals.

The Act also put in place the legal basis for a new national electoral registration system, which will be delivered by Dublin City Council this year, supported by the Department. The new, integrated national system will, among other things, enable local authorities to identify and manage duplicate and deceased electors at national level. Overall, the system will streamline the administration of the register of electors within a modern, secure architecture and will provide an enhanced service to the public, including through enabling the use of MyGovID.

Building on the €6.5 million made available directly to local authorities since 2023 to improve the data quality of their electoral registers, in 2025 the Minister, Deputy Browne, made nearly €5 million available to fund two clerical officers at grade Ill for a period of 18 months in each local authority to undertake specific tasks to prepare for migration to the new system, including standardisation and translation, as well as identifying and following up on deceased and potentially duplicated electors across the country.

An Coimisiún Toghcháin, in its first annual report on electoral registers in May 2025, identified with concern the legacy issues around register data but acknowledged the enormous amount of work being carried out by local authorities to address these while making recommendations to accelerate this work. The Government's commitment to this and the work of local authorities are yielding results. In December 2025 the local government sector reported that over one in four entries on the register had been updated and has an associated PPSN, which means these entries have been checked and confirmed. A total of 74% of entries had a date of birth, 73% had an eircode and 60% of registered electors have both. We expect these trends to continue.

Local authorities, which have responsibility for electoral registration, have done a huge amount of work to get us to this point and I acknowledge this. In addition, the engagement of the public is critical. Each of us is responsible for ensuring that our details on the register are current and correct. Senator Gallagher made reference to encouraging the public when they are written to by the local authority to revert to it as quickly as possible. Clearly, we want to people on the register and we want the register to be accurate. Engagement with the public and people coming back to the local authorities is very important. This is the latest update from the Minister.

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive response. I pay tribute to the staff of the local authorities for the huge volume of work they are doing on this. As I have said, thousands of letters have gone out. Monaghan County Council has sent out 2,000 letters to people three times looking for them to engage. I encourage these people to engage because if they do not do so by 31 May, they could be removed from the register. There is a reluctance among people in some parts to pass on their PPS number as they are afraid it may be used for an alternative purpose. I understand this is not the case. Even if they do not wish to give their PPS number, it is only being asked for purely from the point of view of making sure the names on the register are accurate and legal. People can drop into the local authority with their passport to rubber-stamp and confirm their identity. If people are reluctant to give their PPSN the door is not closed as there are other ways. If they drop in with their ID to the local authority they will be able to get around this issue. I encourage everybody who has not responded to please do so. This is very important work for which we have been calling for years and years. I hope that at the end of this process we will end up with a register that is as accurate as it can possibly be.

I thank Senator Gallagher for bringing this issue up for discussion, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Browne. This is a very important issue and one on which we have made significant progress. I have set out the critical work done by local authorities in recent years, including on legacy data quality issues. I join Senator Gallagher in acknowledging and paying tribute to the work of local authority staff in this regard. As Senator Gallagher has done, I encourage people to respond to the local authorities and engage with them on ensuring we have an up-to-date and accurate register of electors in each local authority area.

We have put in place structures and processes to ensure the integrity of this critical piece of our democratic infrastructure is maintained and enhanced. Annual reporting by local authorities to An Coimisiún Toghcháin, and the commission's own annual report in which it can make recommendations and set standards, will ensure the work done to date will continue to be built upon. As I have said, it is also a matter for each of us to ensure our details are correct and up to date. This is something we can do and encourage others to do. I join Senator Gallagher in encouraging people to engage with the local authorities on this process and I ask them to revert to the local authority on any correspondence they receive on the register of electors. I thank Senator Gallagher for raising this important issue.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, to the Seanad.

I was contacted by Paula, who lives in Cavan. Her son Tadhg was stillborn on Sunday, 5 June 2016 in Cavan General Hospital. She consented to an autopsy, which was carried out on 7 June and buried her little son on 9 June. Tadhg's parents received the post-mortem report on 17 November 2016, which was a period of five months later but this is not the main issue they have. A year after this, in November 2017, which was 17 months after she had buried Tadhg, she received a phone call asking what she wanted to do with her son's brain and left lung. She was absolutely shocked and horrified. She did not know her son's organs had been retained. She had never been informed or had never given permission for this. The autopsy on her son was carried out by Dr. John Gillan. The post-mortem result did not indicate in any way that the organs had issues relating to his death. In fact, it was hospital error that was the cause of her son's death. An inquest was held, so it was March 2021 before she could bury these organs. A full five years and nine months had passed after she had originally buried Tadhg. She had the horrific experience of opening up his grave and, as she said, opening her wounds of grief again, to bury him whole.

In November 2022, "RTÉ Investigates" did a programme on this issue. It turns out that it was not the first time that this Dr. John Gillan - and he has been named in the programme and publicly, and he has admitted himself that he is involved - did this. Indeed, it seems he has been involved in hundreds of cases, or maybe more, similar to this one, where the organs of babies who had died at birth or who were stillborn were retained. He carried out the autopsies and retained the organs. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, concern was raised about this issue. The Government at the time did commission an expert report to investigate the scandal. The results were published in 2009, and the HSE subsequently initiated an investigation.

It found that one hospital, the Rotunda, had a very different practice to a lot of other hospitals, and this was the hospital where the pathologist, Dr. Gillan, operated from. He was let go from that post on foot of these investigations. It is shocking to find that years later he was still being commissioned to carry out autopsies in different hospitals around the country by the same HSE that had commissioned the report and found that he should be let go for these practices. He was still doing this. Apparently, organs were retained without permission or consultation up until 2020.

It has been almost ten years since Tadhg died, and Paula and her partner and their family have never been told why Tadhg's organs were kept, have never received an apology for this and do not feel that Dr. Gillan was held accountable or responsible. As I said, Paula is not the only one to have been in this position. Many other families are in very similar positions. It is very upsetting, and still very upsetting, even after this length of time, that they feel they have been ignored.

I ask if this matter could be looked into again. The evidence is there. We know who is responsible. I know legislation has been passed which tightens up this whole area, the Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Act 2024, so, hopefully, it will not happen again, but I still think we need to look at and deal with the cases where it has happened.

I thank the Senator for highlighting this serious issue and concern. I know it is ten years ago, as the Senator said, but I also send my sympathies to Tadhg's parents. It does not matter how many years ago it was, it is still very emotional.

I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, because she cannot be here. I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. First, I express my deepest sympathies again to all those affected by the deeply troubling issues around organ retention. It is an unacceptable and very distressing situation for anyone to go through, especially after having experienced the tragedy of losing a beloved child.

Most post-mortem examinations are a vital part of medical practice. It is one of the most informative investigations in medicine and can provide objective information on the cause of death, which is of value to the family of the deceased, to healthcare professionals and to other interested parties. Post-mortem examinations can provide information about the risk of inherited diseases, which might be of benefit to family members in seeking necessary care and treatment. Post-mortem examinations can provide information to improve understanding of how disease is caused, advancing medical knowledge and helping others by contributing to the fight against disease and how it can best be treated. Organs or tissues are sometimes removed and retained as part of a post-mortem examination, primarily to allow for analysis of the cause of death. In hospital post-mortem services, this follows a detailed information and consent process with families.

Consent processes underwent significant change and improvement following justified outrage, and that is factual, about post-mortem and organ retention practices in Ireland. Several inquiries have addressed the controversies around organ retention. The Dunne inquiry, as the Senator said, was established to investigate post-mortem practice and procedure in all hospitals in the State since 1970. The inquiry commenced its work in March 2001 and submitted a report to the then Minister for Health in March 2005. In May 2005, Dr. Deirdre Madden was appointed to examine the findings of the Dunne report and to provide the Government with a final report on post-mortem policy and practice. This report was published in 2006. A subsequent report of a working group, also chaired by Dr. Madden, on other areas of post-mortem practice and procedures was published in November 2006. An independent audit of all retained organs in the State, which was commissioned by the HSE, was carried out by Ms Michaela Willis and this report was published in 2009. The HSE subsequently developed its standards and recommended practices for post-mortem examination services and circulated these to relevant hospital staff in March 2012. The overall aim of the 2012 guidelines was to drive high quality post-mortem examination services, based on legal requirements and in keeping with best professional practice. These guidelines were recently updated to the HSE national clinical guidelines for post-mortem examination services in April 2023.

The Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Act 2024 was enacted in February 2024. Part 3 deals with pathology practice and implements many of the findings of the Madden report from 2005. This will establish a new regulatory regime to ensure best practice is followed in the conduct of post-mortem examinations. The Act introduces consent provisions for non-coronial post mortems and sets out a clear framework for how consent is to be obtained and the information that must be given to individuals or their families when seeking such consent. The Act also provides for the regulation of the retention, storage, use, disposal and return of organs and tissue from deceased persons following all post mortems in hospital settings, including those directed by a coroner. The Act also amends the Coroners Acts 1962-2024 to address issues with regard to material removed and retained from the deceased person in a post-mortem examination directed by a coroner. This is something that families directly impacted by recent controversies have called for, and it is important that the legislation has not only acknowledged these requests but has addressed them.

I will be coming back in, but I think it would be important that the Senator would email me all that information, if she would not mind. I will also have a meeting with the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, on this matter.

Before Senator Tully recommences, I welcome to the Public Gallery the students and teachers from St. Mary’s Holy Faith school, who are guests of Deputy Johnny Guirke. They are very welcome and I thank them for joining us. I call Senator Tully.

I thank the Minister of State. The reply outlined the important changes that have taken place since, and they were required. Unfortunately, though, there was such a gap from when the initial investigations and reports were undertaken, which were all in the early 2000s, until the Act was passed in 2024. Paula lost her son Tadhg in that period. Had action been taken quicker, perhaps that might not have happened to her and many other families.

There is also the fact that it is this one pathologist. The question is why. He was made to leave his post or was fired or whatever the terminology used was. The question is why he was then allowed to carry out autopsies in other circumstances. As Paula said, she just never got the explanation or the apology concerning what happened. That is really heartbreaking for her. I know it is because she and other families have spoken out about this issue that the legislation has been introduced, and rightly so. It is not that anybody queries the need for autopsies and how important the information that can be gleaned from them on the cause of death is. It is just about the consent for and the knowledge of what is happening to the bodies of loved ones.

Again, no words can ever make up for the distress experienced by affected families who have lost a loved one, particularly bereaved parents. The inappropriate retention of organs only added to the families' distress and grief. Dignity and respect for parents who have experienced the loss of a child is of paramount importance. This is why it is so important to commence the provisions of Part 3 of the human tissue Act which will establish a regulatory framework for the conduct of post-mortem examinations that embeds in law the idea that consent is the defining principle across activities involving human tissue.

Under the Act, consent will be needed from families for arrangements relating to burial, cremation or the return of any organs retained from a post-mortem examination. The management of any organs must be in line with the wishes of the family. The human tissue Act 2024 includes a number of offences for which someone can be prosecuted for serious breaches of medical practice or records management. These are not intended to criminalise clinicians but a balance must be struck.

A culture of patient safety and quality assurance, as well as open communication, must be at the heart of high-standard health services. It is important that we take all steps to prevent this ever happening again. As I said, I will meet with the Senator, and I will absolutely speak to the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, on her behalf.