Thank you.

We said we would extend-----

No, she is not.

Not agreed.

Not agreed.

I move amendment No. 1: In page 10, line 37, to delete “and” and substitute “or”.

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. I will be concise, given we have little time to get through the amendments. The amendment will amend the meaning of "principal burial land" in the interpretation section. Currently, the section defines a principal burial land as land "associated with an institution where burials have taken place ... of persons who died while resident at the institution, and ... which were manifestly inappropriate". As drafted, there are two criteria, namely, the person must have died while a r…

Given the time constraints, we will go straight to pressing the amendments.

I move amendment No. 2: In page 11, line 1, after “inappropriate” to insert the following: “or circumstances surrounding the death and/or body-disposal method warrant an investigation as to their lawfulness”.

I move amendment No. 3: In page 14, line 32, to delete “and” and substitute “or”.

I move amendment No. 4: In page 14, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following: “(ii) of persons, where circumstances surrounding the death and/or body-disposal method warrant an investigation as to their lawfulness,”.

I move amendment No. 5: In page 15, to delete lines 4 to 6 and substitute the following: “(c) the making of the order is in line with the wishes of the majority of relatives of persons buried on the land.”.

Amendment No. 5 seeks to delete the lines in the Bill which say that an order for an excavation of a burial site will only be made if it is necessary for the purposes of safeguarding important objectives of general public interest. It is not clear what these lines are achieving, so I propose a deletion and substitution that specifies the Government may make an order where doing so is in line with the wishes of the majority of relatives of persons buried on the land. I believe Deputy Cairns said it best in the Dáil …

I move amendment No. 6: In page 15, to delete lines 17 and 18.

Amendment No. 6 seeks to remove the subsection that provides that the Government shall not make an order to establish an office of director of authorised intervention if the burial site comprises a burial ground in whole or in part. In doing so, the amendment would ensure that the authorised interventions occur in the greatest possible number of cases. As drafted, principal burial land would not be eligible for intervention if even a small part of the land comprised a regulated burial ground. This amendment expands…

I move amendment No. 7: In page 15, line 21, after “recovered,” to insert the following: “unless written consent is obtained from living relatives to excavate the appropriately buried remains,”.

I move amendment No. 8: In page 15, to delete lines 22 and 23 and substitute the following: “(d) recovery of human remains from the land would pose risk of serious physical harm to persons responsible for the excavation,”.

I move amendment No. 9: In page 15, to delete lines 31 to 34 and substitute the following: “(5) Where difficulties listed under subsection (4), or any other substantive difficulties, are identified in respect of a site which meets the criteria outlined in subsection (3), the Government shall make every effort to resolve difficulties and to decide, in consultation with relevant persons, whether it is necessary and proportionate to thoroughly examine burials on the land, before it is determined that memorialisation o…

This amendment proposes to delete the lines in the Bill that allow the Government to choose to create a memorial instead of excavating a site and replace them with a paragraph providing that the Government must make every effort possible to excavate a site and overcome any difficulties that may arise. Only once all possible routes to examination of a site have been exhausted should the Government consider a memorial and nothing else. This amendment is also about removing barriers. There should be no easy outs for t…

I will withdraw the amendments in light of the Minister's response.