Leo: It’s up to Kerry Babies family if they want inquiry

THE woman at the centre of the Kerry Babies case has yet to make any claim for compensation.

And Leo Varadkar has said it is not yet known if Joanne Hayes has lodged a claim or will make one.

The Taoiseach said he also does not know if Ms Hayes wants the State to hold a form of tribunal into the way the 1984 case was handled by gardaí.

There has already been a critical internal Garda inquiry into how detectives handled the investigation into the murder of a baby boy, later named John, whose body was found on Cahersiveen beach.

Ms Hayes, whose own son died during or shortly after birth and was buried on her family’s Abbeydorney farm, was charged with the Cahersiveen murder.

After blood tests were undertaken, charges against her were dropped but she was subjected to intense questioning at the notorious Kerry Babies Tribunal in 1985 into the Garda investigation.

In Limerick yesterday, Mr Varadkar said: ‘We’ll let Joanne Hayes and her family decide if they want a tribunal of inquiry into how gardaí carried out the investigation into the Kerry baby deaths.

‘They are the ones who were badly treated. They’re the ones who lost their privacy, whose lives were exposed to public scrutiny.

‘And it may be the case they don’t want that to happen again, or maybe they do.’

Asked about compensation for Ms Hayes and members of her family, he revealed Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has ‘made contact with Mrs Hayes’ solicitor to discuss her wishes’.

Mr Varadkar said: ‘I know among her wishes are that her privacy be respected so I’m very keen to do that, and we’ll discuss anything else with her through her representatives.’