Share

cover art for Kerry Babies: 'There's no good end to this'

In The News

Kerry Babies: 'There's no good end to this'

A man in his 60s and a woman in her 50s have been released without charge, following their arrest this week in connection with the death of a newborn baby boy in Kerry in 1984. It's almost 39 years to the day since Baby John, as he was later named, washed up on a beach near Cahersiveen in Co. Kerry. But the delay in making a potential breakthrough in the case is down to the mishandling of the initial garda investigation; where misogyny, harassment and brutality led to the scapegoating of innocent woman, Joanne Hayes. The infamous Kerry Babies case is one of the darker chapters of our social history, and the details can scarcely be believed today. Especially by a younger generation which has grown up in a liberal society where unmarried mothers are no longer incarcerated, LGBT people can marry and divorce and abortion are now allowed. Dr Mary McAuliffe, historian and director of the UCD Gender Studies Programme, outlines the astonishing facts of the case, and believes our legal system still hasn't fully learned the lessons of those dark days. Presented by Aideen Finnegan.

More episodes

View all episodes

  • Why did it take ten years for Elizabeth Clarke’s disappearance to be upgraded to murder?

    19:18|
    The Garda investigation into the disappearance of Elizabeth Clarke, a mother of two from Co Meath, has been upgraded to a murder inquiry.She was officially reported missing in January 2015, though there have been no confirmed sightings of her since November 2013. She had previously lived in Portrane, Co Dublin, and Bettystown, Co Meath, as well as at another address in Co Meath.Irish Times crime and security correspondent Conor Lally explains why her disappearance never gained the sort of media attention given to other cases of missing Irish women, and where the investigation is at now.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.
  • The NFL is coming to Dublin but why are we paying €10m for it?

    22:16|
    Dublin will host Ireland’s first NFL regular-season game at Croke Park later this year. No date has been given but one side is known: the Pittsburgh Steelers, who will be the designated ‘home team’.It is believed the Government and Dublin City Council will contribute almost €10 million to stage the event. Sports Minister Charlie McConalogue says the American football game will attract 30,000 international visitors with an expected economic boost north of €60 million, plus €20 million to the exchequer.Other figures predict a far greater economic bump. And that’s not counting the massive US TV audience with the potential for tourism growth that that level of exposure brings.Ireland has become the latest pin in the map for the behemoth that is the NFL because the Dublin date is one of several outside the US this year signalling the global growth of the game.And with annual revenue of over $20 billion, the NFL is the richest and most profitable sports league in the world.Irish Times sports columnist Dave Hannigan, who is based in the US, explains just how massive the NFL is; the extraordinary amount of money swirling around the sport, and how the NFL has so successfully managed to monetise the appeal of the game.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.
  • Rubiales on trial: How the World Cup kissing controversy made it to court

    26:56|
    Luis Rubiales' infamous kiss on Jenni Hermoso during the Women’s World Cup celebrations in August 2023 provoked a global reaction. He swore it was consensual. She did not. But the subsequent behaviour of the former football association president, and three other officials, has since escalated into a full-blown criminal trial. If convicted on charges of sexual aggression, he could face two and a half years of jail time. But how realistic is a custodial sentence? And why is he also accused of coercion? As the trial concludes this week, Dermot Corrigan from The Athletic and The New York Times in Madrid, breaks down the legal battle surrounding Rubiales, outlines the testimony of Hermoso and explains the cultural fallout which led to #SeAcabó - Spain's #MeToo movement, and its subsequent backlash.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Aideen Finnegan.
  • Coldplay Catfish: How one Irish woman lost €20,000 in a romance scam

    23:31|
    Consumer affairs correspondent Conor Pope joins In the News to discuss the rise in online romance scams, while Dublin woman Stacey* shares her own experience of losing more than €20,000 to an online fraudster, who pretended to be Coldplay's Chris Martin. Presented by Sorcha Pollak, produced by Suzanne Brennan.*Pseudonym used to protect interviewee’s identity 
  • The myth of the monk - how Gerry Hutch came to be loathed, and revered, by so many

    25:01|
    Last November, in one of the most surprising stories of the general election, Gerard Hutch, the head of the Hutch organised crime gang, came close to securing the final seat in the Dublin Central constituency. The veteran criminal, better known as the Monk, had returned to take part in the election while on bail from Spanish authorities who were investigating money laundering. His surprise run for the Dáil was made while Irish Times crime and security correspondent Conor Gallagher was working on a new RTÉ documentary called AKA The Monk. Gallagher joins the podcast to discuss the two-part documentary into the life, and career, of Gerard Hutch. AKA The Monk is available now on the RTÉ Player.Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Aideen Finnegan. 
  • Derelict Dublin: Why are there so many rotting buildings in the capital?

    25:07|
    Take a five-minute walk in any direction in Dublin city centre and you’ll come across boarded-up, even cemented-over shopfronts, upper floors supported by steel struts and foliage growing through the roof.Properties in prime locations left to rot in the capital city, in the middle of a housing crises. It doesn’t make any kind of sense.In theory it should be easy to find out who owns these decaying properties but it’s not. Nor is it straightforward to discover exactly why valuable properties have been left, sometimes for decades, as eyesores.For a new Irish Times series, Derelict Dublin, Olivia Kelly, along with colleagues Ronan McGreevy and Jack White investigated why the city is blighted by decay and what the council is doing about it.Kelly came into studio to explain.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon and Suzanne Brennan. 
  • Why the arts minister’s obsession with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is missing the point

    27:48|
    When it comes to the political pecking order, Minister for Arts is way down the list. It’s been called the last seat on the bus.The newly-appointed arts minister is Patrick O’Donovan and quite how much interest or experience the Fine Gael TD has in the arts – or culture, also part of the job- is not clear.And his portfolio is massive – it includes communications, media and sport.Two tricky and pressing issues for O’Donovan are RTE’s ongoing funding problems and the soon-to-end basic income for artists programme. And there’s so much more.Hugh Linehan, who wrote a no-holds-barred column questioning O’Donovan’s suitability for the job, explains why in a country that prides itself on its arts and culture, the arts ministry is, in political terms, a low prestige role.And following the new Minister’s visit to Montrose to talk to RTE chief Kevin Bakhurst, Laura Slattery explores his peculiar obsession with the station’s programming - and why he’s got it wrong.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon and John Casey.
  • Can Donald Trump really end the war in Ukraine?

    20:19|
    On the campaign trail, Donald Trump promised he would end the war in Ukraine  in just 24 hours. Despite missing his own deadline, Trump has threatened Russia with high tariffs and further sanctions if Putin fails to end the war. But this week, Donald Trump announced he was “looking to do a deal with Ukraine”. In return for further US military aid, Trump wants access to Ukraines rare earths, critical elements used in electronics, such as  titanium, lithium, graphite and uranium. So what will this development mean for the future of peace talks? And does Trump really have an interest in ending the war in Ukraine? Sorcha Pollak speaks to Irish Times Eastern Europe correspondent Dan McLaughlin from Kyiv.
  • What's behind Trump's Gaza takeover plan?

    22:34|
    At the White House on Tuesday US President Donald Trump announced an outrageous idea to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The US would seize control of the strip and turn it into “the Riviera of the Middle East”. Trump suggested Palestinians who had been living through "hell" could live in neighbouring Arabic nations like Egypt and Jordan, funded by wealthy countries. The declaration was made at a joint press conference at the White House with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu; who welcomed the idea without explicitly backing it. The suggestion was roundly condemned in the Middle East and criticised by the international community. Sky's Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkal says it raises more questions than Trump’s bizarre answer to an entrenched geopolitical problem. Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Aideen Finnegan.