Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has refused a request by the Dublin County Coroner to exhume the body of a baby girl who was buried unidentified in a communal grave after being discovered stabbed in a laneway in Dún Laoghaire in 1973.
The baby, who died from stab wounds, was discovered on April 4th, 1973, in Lee's Lane and was buried in the Little Angels Plot in Glasnevin Cemetery.
Dr Kieran Geraghty had written to the Minister seeking the exhumation of the body from the plot in Glasnevin in an attempt to identify the baby through DNA.
But a statement released from the Department of Justice tonight said that having weighed up all of the relevant circumstances and all the technical information available, the Minister was not persuaded that the making of an order would be "warranted, proportionate or justifiable".
The statement said that in making his decision, the Minister had consulted with a number of experts including the State Pathologist, the Forensic Science Laboratory and the Garda Technical Bureau.
It also said that correspondence had been received from bereaved parents and support groups representing them and that the Minister has considered that correspondence in detail.
But it said it was evident that what would be involved in this instance would amount to a mass exhumation of infant remains, on a scale never contemplated or anticipated under the 1962 Coroners Act.
The Minister said other babies were buried in the specific plot in question and would also require to be exhumed and tested for DNA matches.
"In addition, the expert analysis makes it clear that adjacent plots would also have to be disrupted, with the potential for disturbing another very significant number of burials.
"It is obvious that the distress to the next of kin of the many children involved could be enormous," he said.
"It is also clear that the scale of the exercise from a technical standpoint would be daunting, could last some months, and would be fraught with complications," he added.
Mr McDowell said that his decision should in no way minimise the tragedy of this baby's death.
The inquest into the baby's death was reopened last September after legal representations were made on behalf of Cynthia Owen, the woman who came forward 11 years ago claiming to be the mother of the baby girl, called Noleen.
Ms Owen has claimed the baby was one of two she gave birth to at a young age as a result of sexual abuse during the 1970s when she was living in Dalkey, south Dublin.
She has claimed the other infant was buried in the back garden of her family home in Dalkey but a Garda search last year did not uncover any remains.