The mother of a stillborn baby found on a south Kerry beach on Sunday is now assisting gardai in their investigation of the case.
Supt Eddie Quirke of Cahiriveen Garda station said yesterday that a woman came forward of her own accord on Tuesday following appeals made on local and national media. The gardai are revealing no further details of the case, but are not treating it as suspicious and are satisfied that the woman who came forward is the mother of the baby.
The partially clothed baby was found by two English tourists at about 3 p.m. on Sunday. They were walking on the back strand at Rossbeigh in Dingle Bay, seven miles from Killorglin, in an area popular with tourists.
A post-mortem carried out by the Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, at Tralee General Hospital on Monday revealed the body was that of a full-term baby which was stillborn. Supt Quirke, who made an appeal for the mother to come forward on Radio 1's Morning Ireland, asked that the media now give the woman space to have a speedy recovery.
"I would ask that she be given space and time to recover. That is our main objective, that she recover fully," he said.
He added that he had assured the woman of the confidentiality of her case.
Staff from the Southern Health Board are providing counselling for the woman. "In circumstances such as these, the full range of post-natal services are available," the health board stated. These include the services of an obstetric gyna ecologist, post-natal care nurses and counsellors.