Construction to begin this year on €60M DNA processing plant in Kildare to help solve crimes

Work is due to begin later this year on a huge new laboratory in Kildare that will aid Gardaí in their criminal investigations as it will bring DNA processing up to international standards.

The new €60 million development will be located in Backweston, an area near Weston area between Celbridge and the Kildare border with Dublin, and work is due to get underway there by the end of 2017.

The new lab will be more than 9,550 sq metres in size, and the construction was put out to tender by the Office of Public Works earlier this week. It means that Forensic Science Ireland will be able to work more efficiently on criminal cases that require DNA investigations. Experts from the Garda National Technical Bureau carry out crime scene investigations into such matters as ballistics and firearm examination, but FSI are called in for DNA analysis.

FSI are currently located in the Phoenix Park, but the new laboratory was badly needed according to Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald who set aside money in the last budget for the development.

“It will bring us in line with best practices for the production of DNA results,” Dr Sheila Willis, director of Forensic Science Ireland (FSI),

“With human beings there’s always the possibility of a mistake; the risk of mistake is higher in a non-suitable environment than it is in a purpose built facility that’s designed for the work that’s being carried out.

“We’re not putting out anything unless we’re happy to stand over it but the amount of effort [for] that in a facility that’s not suitable is quite tricky.”