Over the last 40 years, public inquiries into welfare practice have become a familiar feature of western democracies, particularly in the field of child protection. While some of these are destined for relative obscurity, others become landmark cases, shaping policy and providing a benchmark for future inquiries. They become defining moments in our understanding of social issues, living on in popular memory long after the events themselves (Kitzinger, 2004). In this chapter, the discovery of child abuse in Ireland is explored through the lens of the Kilkenny incest case, which became a defining event in changing public discourse. We adopt Robbie Gilligan's (2009) concept of ‘the public child’: the child whose life becomes public business in a ‘reluctant state’.

The Kilkenny incest case, in which a man was found to have physically and sexually abused his daughter over a 15-year period, achieved a notoriety similar to that of the Maria Colwell case in the UK. Virtually overnight the issue of family violence and child care policy was catapulted to the top of the political agenda. Following the trial, the Minister for Health immediately announced an inquiry to establish why action to halt the abuse was not taken earlier. Legislation to increase the maximum sentence for incest was rushed through the Dáil and, following the publication of the inquiry report, the government announced plans to release £35 million to implement the Child Care Act 1991. The level of public interest in the case was unprecedented, with record numbers of people contacting the Department of Justice to express their revulsion and complain about the perceived leniency of the seven-year sentence given to the abuser.

The manner in which the story was reported in the media played a key role in sensitising the public and politicians to the issue of extreme child abuse (Ferguson, 1993). From the outset the story was reported extensively in the Irish media, with a degree of frankness not previously seen. The victim's interview with Raidió Teilifis Éireann (RTÉ) (2 March 1993) was particularly powerful and became an important reference point for public debate around the case.