Mother and Baby Homes
Dail Éireann — 2023-12-14
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Roderic O'Gorman (GP), Dublin West

The legislation sets out who can give DNA at the moment. Obviously legislation can be changed. If there is a clear scientific basis that we will be able to identify with at least a similar degree of precision, I have no stated objection against making that change. If something specific has changed in the past 12 months, I am happy to look at it. I am not sure if the Deputy has something specific he wants to draw to my attention. It was explained to me that by going down a generation and particularly by going out a generation, the chances are halved. Very quickly, by the time you get to cousins, the actual chance of a successful identification becomes very low. It is important we do not raise false hope. That is why I drew the line where the scientific advice was. We have a reasonable chance of providing an identification. That is why the line is drawn where it currently is.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-12-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:32+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-12-14