A team of forensic experts has begun taking DNA samples from elderly mother and baby home survivors, the can reveal.
The move comes as the preparations for the excavation of the Tuam babies burial site continue.
Chrissie Tully, 92 from Loughrea, Co Galway, gave birth to a baby boy in December 1949 who died in Galway hospital but she has been unable to locate his grave.
Ms Tully told the she provided a swab recently in the hope she will be matched to her missing son.
“At least now, no matter what, there is some of my DNA in case they find my baby son Michael. I might not be here when the exhumation happens, but the test is done”.
The Institutional Burials Act 2022 allows for DNA samples to be taken on a voluntary basis and stored.
When the Tuam exhumation begins, the remains of the children located at the site will be forensically analysed.
Director of the exhumation Daniel MacSweeney was appointed by the Government last year to oversee the work.
Thousands of women passed through the religious run-institution between 1925 and 1961, where they gave birth to their children, many of whom were adopted.
In 2014, it was discovered 796 children died at the home and are buried in a cesspit in a small garden-like area on the grounds of the former mother and baby home, which was knocked and developed into a housing estate.
The Bons Secours nuns, who ran the home, left in the early 2000s and exhumed their colleagues, who were reinterred in a grave in Knock, Co Mayo, but left the children behind.
Meanwhile, the first meeting of the advisory board to the director of the Tuam Babies exhumation will take place on January 23 in Dublin.
Annette McKay, whose sister Mary Margaret O’Connor is believed to be in the Tuam grave is on the board and she told the : “We are already nearly a year in to Mr MacSweeney’s appointment and there were a number of phases of work to be done, such as research and DNA samples. It will be important to know are we a bit closer to exhumation”.
In a statement the Department of Children said “In October 2022, the Government made an order under the Institutional Burials Act 2022, to direct the establishment of an independent office to lead an intervention at the site of the former mother and baby institution in Tuam, Co Galway. In May 2023, Daniel MacSweeney was appointed as the director to oversee the intervention.
“The director’s initial priority has been to engage with relatives, survivors, and former residents in relation to the intervention. He is also overseeing significant planning and preparation work for the excavation of the site. He has contracted a forensic programme manager and is also working on establishing core administrative structures and securing laboratory premises and equipment.
“The minister recently established an administrative scheme to allow for the collection of samples, on a purely voluntary basis, from elderly and vulnerable people in advance of the start of the statutory identification programme. Any person can contact the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention for details.”