Flanagan hails impact of National DNA Database in fight against crime

The annual report of Forensic Science Ireland (FSI), published today records that 34 per cent of crime scene samples uploaded to the database in 2017 were linked to a person, up from 18 per cent in 2016.

Mr Flanagan (pictured) said: “To date, the number of person samples added since the establishment of the National DNA Database is over 21,000 and approximately 913 investigative links between people and unsolved crimes have been uncovered, ranging from burglaries to sexual assaults and murder.

“The crime solving capacity of the database will continue to grow as the database grows. In 2017 alone, 34 out of every 100 crime scene samples uploaded onto the database were linked to a person by FSI. This is a significant increase on the 2016 figure.”

As custodian of the database, FSI inputs, updates and manages the information and gives relevant intelligence data to the police.

The database holds DNA profiles taken from suspects charged, reported or convicted for a recordable offence. It also holds DNA profiles from stains found at crime scenes. It matches profiles from suspects with those from a crime scene and can link crimes to one perpetrator.

Commenting on the construction of a new laboratory for FSI, which is due to open in 2021, the Mr Flanagan said: “This new laboratory will provide FSI with a modern, purpose built facility, achieving best practice standards for evidence processing, analysis and storage.

“The Government wants to have the best and most modern forensic facility, to set the standard for the avoidance of contamination and the recovery, identification and interpretation of trace forensic evidence.