Womanhood on trial: The letters received by the Taoiseach during the Kerry Babies saga
Documents released under the 30-year rule show the public interest in the tragedies. By Sinead O Carroll Wednesday 30 Dec 2015, 6:05 AM Dec 30th 2015, 6:05 AM 23,741 Views 30 Comments
A NEWBORN BABY boy has been found dead near Caherciveen, county Kerry. The body was found abandoned on the White Strand, about three miles from the town, and a post-mortem is being carried out by the State pathologist Dr John Harbison. The baby is believed to have died about three days ago.
These were the words from an RTÉ news reporter on 14 April 1984 which would leave Ireland a forever changed nation.
There is more than one apology due over the abysmal Kerry Babies saga
But one is all we’re likely to get. By Cianan Brennan Wednesday 17 Jan 2018, 12:10 AM Jan 17th 2018, 12:10 AM 43,197 Views 118 Comments Source: TheJournal.ie
IT WAS THE bleakest of days in Cahersiveen.
The wind howled, snow and sleet pelted down mercilessly. It suited the day that was in it at the southern tip of Co Kerry.
It brought with it the news that Joanne Hayes had finally got redemption from her tormentors of so many years – An Garda Síochána.
The hastily scheduled press conference in the town’s Garda station had a touch of the theatrical about it. It was a mark in the sand – the force facing up to the ghosts of the past and admitting they’d gotten it wrong. Better late than never.
Dutch woman ruled out as Gardaí continue to investigate birth and death of Baby John
It was a case that rocked 1980s Ireland. Irish women rose up in support of a woman persecuted by a powerful, patriarchal State. But the parents of Baby John, the Cahirciveen Baby, remain elusive, as a fresh Garda investigation hits another dead end
The Kerry Baby grave in Cahirciveen, County Kerry. Picture: Don MacMonagle
Sat, 19 Dec, 2020 - 07:59
Neil Michael I am the Kerry Baby .
Five words inscribed on a gravestone, remembering a little boy who didn t live long enough to speak his first words. From the date he was baptized on April 14, 1984, and named John , nobody has ever discovered who he is.
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”.
After 36 years State finally apologises to Joanne Hayes and family over Kerry Babies case
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The Irish State has apologised to Joanne Hayes, the woman who was wrongly accused of murdering an infant over 35 years ago, and her siblings over their treatment during events that became known as the Kerry Babies case.
The apology, made before Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds at the High Court on Friday and reiterated one made in 2018, forms part of a settlement of damages actions brought by Ms Hayes, her sister Kathleen and brothers Michael and Edmund following their arrest by the Gardai in May 1984.