In Ireland, our past — even our recent past — is another planet; they do things not just differently but incomprehensibly there. There was also a tragic postscript as, on April 22, 1984, less than three months after Ann died, her 14-year-old sister Patricia took her own life. Majella Moynihan as a Garda in 1988Inexplicably, “confessions” about the Caherciveen baby were elicited from members of the Hayes family. This was the febrile atmosphere of 1980s Ireland that confronted Majella Moynihan, Ann Lovett, Joanne Hayes, and Eileen Flynn who found themselves at the mercy of a male-dominated Church, judiciary, government, and police force. In a very real sense, Ann Lovett died for Ireland, a martyr to the hypocrisy of unchristian Irish Catholicism.

Source: Irish Examiner June 18, 2019 23:03 UTC