After 35 years of hurt and trauma, the travesty inflicted on Joanne Hayes and her family was finally brought to an end.
The apology over the Kerry Babies affair took less than a minute to read – and Ms Hayes was not present in the High Court to hear it, wishing to preserve her privacy.
But in a statement issued afterwards, the woman who was wrongfully accused of murdering her own baby expressed relief that the “suffering and stress of this ordeal” was finally behind her and her family.
She also asked that their privacy be respected so they could “return to our lives within our local community in peace”.