Senior officer was linked to all tribunals into garda behaviour

Seán McCárthaigh

The Mullingar-based officer first came to public attention in the early 1980s when as a member of the garda murder squad he arrived in Co Kerry to investigate the circumstances of what became known as the Kerry Babies case.

It involved an investigation which focused on Abbeydorney woman, Joanne Hayes, who gave birth to a baby boy on April 13, 1984. The following day, the stabbed body of another young infant was discovered on a beach at Cahirciveen.