I think what makes this case of "special" interest are the legal and (and even certain cultural) details, which are specific to cases of abuse within Ireland itself.

a) The case highlights that there is a constitutional and legal disparity between cases of children who are abused within *married* families, and those abused within unmarried families in Ireland. Children from *married* families are less protected than those within unmarried families. This because of the (what I can only assume to be a religiously based) constitutional bias towards protecting the institution of marriage.

b) It also highlights that there is a further serious disparity between maximum sentencing for cases of incest involving a woman, and those involving a man. This presumably (?) based on (what I think most people who work with victims of incest would disagree with) that a mother sexually assaulting her child (or, female adult assaulting a younger sibling), is somehow a 'lesser' offense than a father (or, male adult assaulting a younger sibling) sexually assaulting his child.

It would seem therefore that reporting on this case is in fact, not merely about titilating words like "incest" (not merely incidental, but fundamental to the case), or about condemning "monster mothers", but raises some extremely important concerns about disparities in the way the Irish constitution treats particular cases of abuse. And the various implicit (culturally and religiously founded?) biases contributing to these disparities, which evidently require serious examination and re-evaluation.