Two feature films on the controversial "Kerry babies" case are planned to go into production in Ireland next year.
In April 1984, Joanne Hayes, 24 at the time, concealed the birth and death of her baby on the family farm in Abbeydorney, Co Kerry. The stabbed body of a newborn baby was washed ashore on a beach in Caherciveen, over 30 miles away.
A tribunal of inquiry was held to examine the behaviour of the Garda and their handling of the case. It sat for 77 days and heard 109 witnesses. The story received extensive coverage in the Irish media at the time.
Producers Tristan Orpen Lynch and Dominick Wright of Dublin-based production company Subotica Films are proceeding with plans for a film on the subject, scripted by actor and writer Gerard Mannix Flynn and director Aisling Walsh. Subotica produced Walsh's 2003 film, Song For a Raggy Boy, which dealt with physical and sexual abuse at a reformatory school for boys.
Producer Jackie Larkin of Newgrange Productions told The Irish Times in Cannes that her company is going ahead with a separate treatment of the story by Joel Conroy. This project is based on Nell McCafferty's book on the case, A Woman to Blame, published by Attic Press.
Larkin is producing the film with Roisin Conroy of Attic Press. The screenplay, based on McCafferty's book, has been written by Gerry Stembridge, who is set to direct the film next year. His earlier films as a director have included Guiltrip and About Adam.
Neither Subotica nor Newgrange could comment at this stage on who would play the principal character, Joanne Hayes, and the other leading roles. "Mannix and Aisling have been developing the script for a number of years," Mr Lynch said yesterday, "and have done extensive research into the story. They have a proven record for dealing with difficult and sensitive material, and I think this will help attract a serious international cast."
The Irish Film Board has given development funding to both projects.
The Newgrange film has additional funding from an independent UK distributor, Optimum Releasing.
Kerry babies case: how the story unfolded
The Kerry babies controversy began in 1984 when the body of a baby who had died from stab wounds was found on a beach in Caherciveen, Co Kerry.
During the Garda investigation into the baby's death, a young woman called Joanne Hayes, from Abbeydorney in north Co Kerry, was identified as having presented to hospital and reported that she had had a miscarriage. The doctors believed she had given birth.
After Garda questioning of Joanne and her family, they confessed the baby found had been born to Joanne at her family home, that she had killed, it and her family had assisted in disposing of the body. Joanne was charged with the killing, and members of her family were charged with concealing the murder. She later retracted her confession and said she had given birth at home following a concealed pregnancy, and that the baby had died and its body was buried on the family farm. Gardaí recovered this body.
Charges against the woman were dropped following incontrovertible evidence that she was not the mother of the baby found on the beach. That baby had a different blood type to the baby found on the farm. It also had a different blood type to that of Ms Hayes and the married man with whom she was having an affair.
A tribunal was established, headed by Judge Kevin Lynch, to find out how the woman and her family could have made their original confessions to gardaí.
The tribunal entailed intense scrutiny of the woman and her private, sexual and family life. Questions were raised as to whether Ms Hayes might have had twins by two different men.
It found that Ms Hayes was not the mother of the baby on the beach. However, the judge concluded Ms Hayes had killed her own baby by choking it to stop its crying.
The Lynch report criticised the handling of the case by the Garda but rejected claims by the Hayes family that members had been assaulted during questioning. It also rejected claims there had been a police conspiracy.
The identity of the baby boy found on the beach has never been established and the case remains unsolved.
Eithne Donnellan