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Joanne Hayes Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland

Gardaí have obtained a DNA profile of 'Baby John' - one of the Kerry Babies

The case led to a murder trial and a tribunal.

AN GARDA SÍOCHÁNA will tomorrow announce the commencement of a review into the death of a baby in Kerry more than 33 years ago.

Baby John was found with multiple injuries on White Strand beach in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry, on April 14 1984.

A local woman – Joanne Hayes – would be arrested and confess to the murder. However she and her family would later recant those confessions.

What followed was a murder case and tribunal which brought to light Ireland’s attitudes towards women, family and religion in the 1980s. The tribunal concluded that Hayes was not the mother of the baby on the beach in Cahersiveen, but was the mother of a baby whose body had been found on her family farm.

Tonight’s Claire Byrne Live programme reported that gardaí have obtained a full DNA profile of the baby.

Gardaí will tomorrow announce that the review is being conducted by investigating Gardaí in Cahersiveen supported by the Serious Crime Review Team.

Investigating Gardaí will make an appeal for information from anyone living in Cahersiveen and the surrounding areas around the time of April 1984.
TheJournal.ie will be reporting live from the scene of tomorrow’s Garda briefing in Kerry.

Read: What was the Kerry Babies scandal that rocked Ireland in the 1980s?

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