'I'm more careful now': Orla O'Donnell on covering very public cases - and the very private tragedies behind them

Orla O’Donnell was just one year into her role as RTÉ Legal Affairs Correspondent when she covered the Miss D case. Now, together with Amy Dunne, she has written a book about that time. She speaks to Jen Stevens about how she copes with covering difficult cases.

Orla O'Donnell, journalist and author: covering sensitive cases has changed her style of journalism. Photograph Moya Nolan

In 2007 there was a court case that gripped the country: Amy Dunne, known as Miss D, was barely 17 and pregnant with a baby girl who had anencephaly, a foetal condition that meant she was certain to die before or at birth.

Amy, who was devastated and in the temporary care of the HSE told a social worker about her plan to travel to Britain for a termination. Although she had the support of her family and the baby’s father, the HSE told her that travel would be impossible and so Amy had to fight her case in the High Court.