The judge, presiding over today's proceedings at the High Court where the State apologised to Joanne Hayes and her family, says the settlement has brought a close to a dark chapter in Irish History.
Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds described what happened to the Hayes family as a 'travesty', and welcomed the resolution of the legal actions.
She expressed her hope that the end of the proceedings would bring some closure for the Hayes family.
The judge also asked the media to be sensitive to Joanne Hayes and her family in its reporting of the proceedings.
Sinn Féin TD for Kerry, Pa Daly, says the High Court declaration in favour of the Hayes family is welcome but has been a long time in coming.
Deputy Pa Daly says this was a grave miscarriage of justice and the compensation Joanne Hayes will receive is the least that can be done.
As part of the settlement, the Hayes family also secured declarations from the court that all findings or wrongdoings made against them by a State tribunal of inquiry, known as the Kerry Babies Tribunal, that took place in 1984 and 1985 were unfounded and incorrect.
Deputy Daly says that tribunal never explained how six members of the same family, questioned in separate rooms of Tralee Garda Station, signed statements about events that science said could not be true.
This is a reference to the superfecundation theory held by gardaí that Joanne Hayes had given birth to twins in 1984, who had been fathered by two different men.
Investigators believed this explained the two different blood groups of Ms Hayes's son who had died of natural causes, and a new born baby boy found with multiple stab wounds on a beach in Cahersiveen, around 50 miles from Joanne Hayes's home.
A blood test later confirmed that Ms Hayes was not the mother of the murdered baby, called Baby John.
