Kerry Babies: Tribunal report was controversial, divisive, and raised more questions than answers

Judge Kevin Lynch on the Hayes farm during the Kerry Babies Tribunal in 1985. The judge made numerous judgements about the character of Joanne Hayes for which no evidence was presented. Picture: Kevin Coleman

The Kerry Babies Tribunal report was controversial, divisive, and raised more questions than answers. Law expert Vicky Conway, as part of a book project, speculated as to what might happen were a judge asked to consider at this point in time whether there should be a fresh tribunal. The following is an edited extract.

IN SETTING up the Kerry Babies tribunal, Mr Justice Kevin Lynch was tasked with determining what did in fact occur, where the truth lay between the differing accounts provided by the Hayes family and the investigating gardaí.