Nearly 11,000 samples now in national DNA database

Ireland’s new DNA database contains 10,988 individual person samples, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has revealed.

The national database was established in November 2015 following the implementation of the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA database System) Act 2014.

It is managed by Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) under an oversight committee.

Ms Fitzgerald said: “The database constitutes a major intelligence resource for the investigation of crime. The database is being populated with samples taken from persons suspected/convicted of serious crime and from crime scenes.

“I have been informed by FSI that to date the number of person samples added since the establishment of the database is 10,988.”

The oversight committee has met six times since the establishment of the database and will soon prepare its first annual report.

Ms Fitzgerald said the report “will in due course be submitted to me as Minister and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas”.