‘Don’t rush to exhume Ann’s baby’
Amid calls for DNA tests, a call for ‘respect’ for teen
THE journalist who broke the story of the death of Ann Lovett – who had given birth to a baby in a grotto – has called on the public to reflect before seeking the exhumation of the child’s body.
Emily O’Reilly, currently the European Ombudsman, was speaking after a man who identified himself as the teenage boyfriend of the tragic 15-yearold gave a newspaper interview at the weekend, 34 years after Ann Lovett’s death.
The interview with Richard McDonnell, now 51, led some campaigners to call for the body of Ann’s son, who was stillborn, to be exhumed to put an end to speculation surrounding his paternity.
Mr McDonnell said this week that Ann and he had drifted apart by the time of her death. Three months before her death, he asked her about rumours of a pregnancy but she denied them.
There has been persistent speculation since Ann, from Granard, Co. Longford, died in 1984 that an adult may have fathered the child, and that a crime may have been committed against the schoolgirl.
Ann gave birth alone at a religious grotto in Granard following a concealed pregnancy.
Her death, just a few hours after giving birth, became national news.
‘Reflect on whether it’s necessary’
Ms O’Reilly, then a reporter, broke the news in the Sunday Tribune newspaper.
Yesterday, amid calls for an exhumation of the body of Ann’s son, Ms O’Reilly told RTÉ Radio’s News At One: ‘People will have to reflect on it to see if it is necessary to know, in order to give the respect to Ann and to her child and to everybody involved in the tragedy at the time.’
Ms O’Reilly also noted that it was not clear who the father of Ann’s baby is and that she doesn’t know the circumstances under which the child’s body would be exhumed.
She added that Mr McDonnell’s interview may lead to new clarity in the case.
Ms O’Reilly said the deaths of Ann and her child prompted two investigations, one by An Garda Síochána as well as an inquiry announced by the then women’s minister, Nuala Fennell. However, neither report was ever published.