Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 March 2022
503. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if the former site of the St Patrick's refuge and laundry, Dún Laoghaire, which currently has a planning application for apartments has been assessed as to whether it is potentially a burial site; if not, if he plans to do so; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16026/22]
View answerI have no statutory role or powers in relation to the planning process, which is regulated under the Planning and Development Act 2000. I understand that planning decisions of this nature are functions of the local authority concerned.
The Institutional Burials Bill, which I published last month, was developed to provide the required legal basis for intervention at the site of the former Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Co. Galway, where manifestly inappropriate burials have occurred. The legislation is not site specific and provides for interventions at other institutions should evidence emerge of manifestly inappropriate burials of people who died while ordinarily resident at such an institution.
