One of the gardaí involved in the Kerry babies case has called for DNA-testing on the bodies of the two infants at the centre of the inquiry.
Mr Gerry O'Carroll, a former detective inspector and former member of the Murder Squad, who investigated the original case, said he stood by his original belief that Joanne Hayes was the mother of both babies.
This is despite a tribunal of inquiry that found otherwise.
Speaking on RTÉ's Liveline yesterday, Mr O'Carroll said DNA testing would be "about the only sure way" to establish whether the babies were siblings.
The call has also been backed by Ms Hayes's solicitor who said the Hayes family had no difficulty with DNA-testing, providing Ms Hayes did not have to provide a DNA sample. Ms Joanne Hayes, a 25-year-old single mother from Abbeydorney, near Tralee in Co Kerry, was the primary Garda suspect in the killing of a newborn baby, whose body was found on a beach in Cahirciveen, Co Kerry. A post-mortem showed the baby had been stabbed to death.
During the investigation, Ms Hayes apparently admitted to killing the baby during questioning by Det Insp O'Carroll. She was charged with the killing, and members of her family were charged with concealing the murder.
She later retracted her confession. Serious doubt was then cast on the Garda case when a second baby was found on the Hayes farm, which Joanne Hayes said she had given birth to in a field before it died. The babies had different blood types. A tribunal of inquiry was established in the autumn of 1984, headed by Judge Kevin Lynch, to investigate the handling of the investigation.
The tribunal found that Ms Hayes was not the mother of a baby found murdered on a beach and was not responsible for that baby's death.
However, Justice Kevin Lynch concluded that 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. He also rejected claims that there had been a police conspiracy in the case. Yesterday, Mr O'Carroll said he would apologise to Ms Hayes if the DNA-testing proved him wrong and backed up the tribunal's finding."I will, yes, of course I will," he said.
The retired garda also rejected suggestions he had done anything to intimidate Ms Hayes when he interviewed her.
"My conscience is clear . . . I treated her like my own daughter," he said. "I was kindness and patience personified."
Ms Hayes's solicitor, Mr Patrick Mann, said that his client was not the mother of Cahirciveen baby was "borne out by science".
However, he said that if it clarified the issue "we've no objection to it whatsoever, especially if it cauterises an ongoing sore."
He believed the authorities would have samples from both babies which could be tested, but Ms Hayes would not provide any samples.