Press release
Minister Jim O’Callaghan publishes Forensic Science Ireland Annual Report 2024
- Published on: 10 December 2025
- Last updated on: 10 December 2025
- FSI analyses more drug samples than ever before, including largest drug seizure in the history of the State
- FSI contributes to missing persons cases and high profile criminal proceedings leading to successful conclusions
- FSI completes move to new state-of-the-art facility
Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O’Callaghan, has today published the latest Annual Report from Forensic Science Ireland (FSI).
The 2024 report marks substantial progress made by FSI as it completed the relocation to its new state-of-the-art facility in Backweston, Co Kildare. The new laboratory in Backweston Science Campus provides FSI with a purpose-built facility, achieving best practice standards for evidence processing, analysis and storage.
Marking the publication Minister Jim O’Callaghan said:
“I commend FSI for its outstanding work in 2024. The annual report shows last year was a productive year with strong progress achieved across a number of areas. This work was conducted in the context of increased demands on the organisation, in terms of drug analysis, DNA identification, and expert contribution in criminal proceedings.”
“2024 also marked the substantial completion of FSI’s move to a new facility in Backweston. It is a credit to the hard work and adaptability of FSI’s staff that all services to the Criminal Justice system were maintained during the move. The new laboratory at Backweston sets up FSI for continued success into the future.”
FSI Director General Dr. Ciarán Seoighe said:
“The demand for FSI’s services continues to grow year on year. There is an ongoing increase in volume and a particular increase in complexity, with the more complex cases demanding considerable time and expertise from forensic scientists.
“In 2024, not only did the staff at FSI successfully transition to the new laboratory and maintain services but they continued to stay at the leading edge of the forensic science technologies and practices in a constantly evolving sector.
“With the transition largely behind us, we are turning our focus now to process optimisation, enhanced technological and research capabilities and the recruitment of a new cohort of scientists.”
Significant progress has been made by FSI, and partners across the criminal justice system, to create a robust and effective DNA database. The national DNA Database now contains 83,489 individual DNA profiles. This compares to just 25 profiles in 2015. This substantial growth has allowed the DNA Database to become a critical tool in criminal investigations and in the identification of perpetrators.
The National DNA Database identified 766 hits in 2024, assisting in 997 cases.
Minister Jim O’Callaghan continued:
“I was very pleased to note that FSI exceeded its targets in relation to DNA identifications and turnaround time for the identification of remains and urgent drug cases.
I welcome the completion of a transformational new ICT system for capturing, storing and comparing DNA data generated internally by FSI, the DNA Application Sample Handling (DASH).”
To build on FSI’s ability to gather and analyse DNA samples, I will seek Government approval shortly for legislative change to allow Forensic Science Ireland to use more powerful DNA analysis techniques for the identification of unknown remains. This will enable FSI to take advantage of enhanced analytical technologies, significantly increasing the chances that viable DNA profiles can be generated for the purposes of comparison and identification. These technologies will also allow for broader familial searching and comparisons, compared to current DNA technology which is limited to parent/child and siblings only.”
“For the last half century, FSI has played a pivotal role in Ireland’s criminal justice system. It is a testament to the excellence of FSI that is has excelled in this time and has established itself as a European leader in the field. Amidst the complexity of criminal investigations and prosecutions, the advice and expertise of our forensic scientists is grounded in objectivity and scientific fact. As a society we are proud of the painstaking work that FSI does and the impact that it has on people’s lives. I am steadfast in my commitment to supporting FSI’s continued growth.”
Ends
Notes to Editor
The Report can be found here
Several highlights detailed in the report from FSI’s operations in 2024 are below:
- A total of 25,170 exhibits and 23,465 biometric samples were submitted in 2024.
- FSI assisted in 161 body identification and missing person cases in 2024. It also helped in the identification of 32 missing persons during 2024.
- At the end of December 2024 there were a total of 83,489 DNA profiles on the DNA Database, compared to 74,628 at the end of 2023. Overall, the DNA Database identified 766 hits in 2024, which assisted 997 cases.
- The 997 cases with which the DNA database helped covered a wide range of investigation types (e.g. burglaries, criminal damage, unlawful taking of a vehicle, robberies/thefts, etc).
- Cases relating to the supply of drugs with a high market value have increased from 45 per year in 2020 to 318 in 2024, a seven-fold increase. In February 2024 the FSI were involved in the identification of methamphetamine (crystal meth) in the largest seizure to date in the State.
- Cannabis products, including edibles were the most common submission type received, representing 44% of samples; powder followed close behind, at 38%. Cocaine was the most commonly identified stimulant and the second most commonly identified compound after cannabis.
- FSI reported on 41 suspicious deaths in 2024, a 17% increase on the 2023 figure of 35.
- An upgrade of the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) to MBIS (Multibiometric Identification System) was deployed in July 2024 following a four-year project involving An Garda Síochána and FSI. This upgrade will significantly enhance the matching capabilities, improve the quality of the Tenprint (fingerprint) sets submitted for the Database and solve previously unsolved cases.
- FSI’s fingerprint team handled 29,246 Sirene transactions (an EU-wide information exchange system) in 2024. Daily transactions on the Sirene system rose from 50 per day in 2021 to 80 per day in 2024. There was an expected significant increase (doubling) in the number of searches carried out in 2024 with the deployment of the new Fingerprint MBIS system.