Freedom that lies at the heart of feminism is still under fire

In her final article as editor of the 'Sunday Independent', Anne Harris looks at what two scandals, 30 years apart, tell us about women in Irish society

Anne Harris outgoing Editor of the Sunday Independent

Anne Harris

The Kerry Babies Tribunal was where I came in with the Sunday Independent. Mairia Cahill's revelations about sex abuse and Sinn Fein is my point of departure. Between the two lies a chasm - not just a 30-year gap, but the erosion of a once great idea: feminism.

The Kerry Babies Tribunal arose out of the discovery on a Kerry beach of a brutally murdered baby, the subsequent arrest of single parent Joanne Hayes, who had earlier given birth in Tralee, but was found to be inexplicably baby-less, and confessions by her and her family, apparently under duress, to the murder. Police investigation revealed a second dead baby - definitely Joanne's - buried on the Hayes farm.