Departmental Inquiries

Tuesday, 24 June 2025

Questions (646)

Aidan Farrelly

Question:

646. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration further to Parliamentary Question No. 706 of 20 May 2025, if the necessary information has been supplied to him to answer this PQ. [34260/25]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration

I understand that Parliamentary Question No. 706 of 20 May 2025 sought “the number of occasions that An Garda Síochána have hired out an external forensic archaeologist to carry out work on its behalf, in 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025, in tabular form.”

Regretfully, I have been informed by Garda authorities that it is taking longer than anticipated to compile this information as it is being collated from a number of sources. I am assured An Garda Síochána will provide the information as soon as possible. I will write to the Deputy again once this information is to hand.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Orders.

I refer to your parliamentary questions in May and June regarding the hiring of external forensic archaeologists by An Garda Síochána. You will recall that the information could not be obtained in the time available when you tabled your initial question in May, and I undertook to contact you again when the requested information was received from the Garda authorities.

I have now been provided with the following information by the Garda authorities which provides the number of times per Garda Region that the services of a forensic archaeologist has been engaged by Gardaí:

-	2023	2024	2025
DMR	4	1	0
Eastern Region	0	1	2
Southern Region	1	0	1
North Western Region	0	1	0

This information is operational in nature and may be subject to change.

Garda authorities have advised that there is a clear distinction between the roles of a forensic archaeologist and a forensic anthropologist, as these are separate disciplines and should not be conflated. A forensic archaeologist typically specialises in the location and recovery of buried human remains, whereas a forensic anthropologist is responsible for the analysis of decomposed or skeletal remains.

An Garda Síochána has clarified that it does not hire forensic archaeologists directly. These services are typically accessed through the Office of the State Pathologist, which works in consultation with both forensic archaeologists and forensic anthropologists, as required.

I hope this information is of assistance.