‘It’s about respect and dignity for the dead’ – Tuam babies forensic expert on the excavation of remains

‘ We have to listen to families because it’s their story, their emotions,’ says vastly experienced investigator

Bone by bone, Oran Finegan is tasked with solving the biggest forensic puzzle in the history of the State. The remains of up to 800 babies lying beneath the soft, brown earth in the grounds of what once was St Mary’s mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway, have a story to tell, forensic investigator Mr Finegan said.

The bones, and their secrets, will soon be excavated, marking a sensitive new chapter in a story with a dark past.

“Ultimately this is about respect and dignity for the dead,” Mr Finegan told the Irish Independent this week.

“When I heard about the case inTuam it was something I really wanted to be involved in.

“I have had the good fortune of being able to use forensics in many contexts around the world to help address the issue of missing persons and to help bring dignity to the dead. To be able to bring those skills home and to use that for an issue of such huge social and historical importance is a great privilege.”

Mr Finegan, from Carlingford, Co Louth, is two months into his new job as forensics lead at the Tuam site.

With a team of forensic investigators that has yet to be determined, he has been given the job of exhuming, analysing and identifying the remains of the Tuam babies in Co Galway. It is a job he comes to with a breadth of experience.

Having worked in forensics for years with the UN and international crimes tribunal for the formerYugoslavia, Finegan joined the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as a forensic adviser in 2008.

During his eight years at the ICRC, he has worked as regional forensic adviser for the western Balkans and forensic

adviser for Iraq. He was based in Baghdad and in Amman, Jordan.

In 2014, as deputy head of the forensic services for the ICRC, he was one of only a handful of forensic detectives whowas given access to the crash site of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 in Ukraine.

His work in the sensitive area of identifying human remains has taken him all over the world, but the project at Tuam, which could take many years to complete, is his first assignment in Ireland.

“It was something I just couldn’t turn down,” he said.

“My whole career was abroad, except for the very beginning. In 2019 I attended an event in Cork that was being hosted in Tuam and I was invited at the time to speak at that from my experience at the International Red Cross.

“Having the opportunity to come back and work on that was something I very much valued and wanted to have the opportunity to do. Now, I have the opportunity to have a role and provide some input into this important project.”

It’s been almost a year since Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman appointed Daniel Mac Sweeney as head of the independent office set up to oversee the sensitive work of ensuring the children’s remains at the Tuam site are recovered and re-interred in a respectful and appropriate way.

Since then, Mr Mac Sweeney has added key personnel to his team, which now numbers seven in forensics, communication, and administration and governance and include Finegan.

While there is still no date as to when physical excavation works of the Dublin Road site will begin, indications are that the recovery of the remains alone could take two years due to the complexity of the site and underground septic tanks.

Mr Finegan said the analysis phase and howlong that will take depended on the volume and complexity of remains.

The team will be dealing with a large amount of remains mixed together – this being an area he has particular expertise in. “So much of what we need to know is beyond our sight,” he said.

“What I think is important for us is not to try to predict the unknowns but to focus on the knowns. We know we have a certain number of death certificates. We know that remains have been located at the site. We look at all the information we have and build a plan based around that.

“Obviously that will need to orientate depending on what we recover and the condition under which it is recovered.”

Local historian Catherine Corless first went public in 2014 with the revelation that the bodies of hundreds of babies who died from ailments while in the home were unaccounted for.

Mediac overage of her work suggested the possibility that some mayhave been buried in an underground sewage tank.

Then, in March 2017, the commission of investigation into mother and baby homes confirmed its experts had discovered “significant quantities” of human remains in an underground structure at the Tuam site.

It is against this backdrop that Mr Mac Sweeney’s office has been established and preparations are under way to begin the process of answering the many questions that surround the Tuam babies story.

The age of the remains, the fact they are children and have been exposed to water will complicate analysis and identification. The excavation team will be independent but is legally obliged to use advanced techniques to match DNA samples with living relatives. The goal is to give a respectful burial to all the remains.

So far a key priority for Mr Mac Sweeney has been to engage with relatives, survivors and former residents of the Tuam institution in relation to the painstaking preparatory work that is taking place and the long road that lies ahead.

Mr Finegan is fully behind this approach. As part of this inclusive process, if and when a successful identification is made, he intends to meet the family and explain, step by step, what investigations were carried out on the remains.

“I worked on a project in Cyprus for a couple of months to help recover and identify people fromthe conflict,” hesaid.

“With every identified person we would meet the family and we would explain the process of howwe had gone about the recovery, howwe did the analysis and identification and it amazed me how every family was different.

“There were families who had moved on. There were families we met and it was like it was only yesterday. It shows you that we all live on a spectrum on this issue, but I think that’s why we have to listen to the families at the centre because it’s their emotions, it’s their story.

“As a forensic practitioner I feel I have the privilege to be able to help tell that story, to help find the narrative. I think that’s an incredibly privileged position that you need to use with great caution.

“Everything you say to families has an impact. You have to treat people with respect and take the time to tell people the truth, be upfront and transparent about the process.”

Mr Finegan also has a personal interest in the topic of unidentified remains. On some subconscious level, he said, it was the disappearance of his uncle and the effect it had on his father that drew him towards his career.

“My uncle, like many Irish, went to London. He never came back. Myfather spent years trying to find him. Myfather, who is now deceased, never knew his fate,” he said.

“To this day, his whereabouts are unknown. I saw the impact that had on my father in his life, not knowing and always wondering was he still alive. He never had an answer to that question.

“In my work, I have seen how the ability to recover and mourn their deceased loves ones has impacted families and communities. To have some role in terms of being able to address that is incredibly meaningful.”

“My uncle went to London. He never came back. My father, who is now deceased, never knew his fate”