A woman who, as a child, made a false allegation of sexual assault against her neighbour in Galway, which she later withdrew in adulthood, has said she will co-operate fully if there is an investigation into garda handling of the miscarriage of justice.

In April, Michael Feichín Hannon (34) had his conviction for sexually assaulting then ten-year-old Una Hardester declared a miscarriage of justice, and demanded an inquiry into how the gardaí investigated the case.

His solicitor Michael Finucane has written to justice minister Dermot Ahern and garda commissioner Fachtna Murphy seeking an investigation into the handling of the case.

Hannon is now entitled to seek damages from the state at the High Court as he has received a miscarriage of justice certificate.

In the days after Hannon's name was cleared, Hardester's mother Katherine posted on a blog saying that her daughter never identified Hannon as the man who assaulted her, saying it was "a man with a long nose".

She also said that she stopped the garda interview four times "to complain about the officer's questions".

In a statement released to this newspaper last week, Katherine Hardester said she would "co-operate with the authorities in any way possible" during any investigation.

She added: "There are no smoking guns or radical revelations, just a lot of people doing what they thought was right in the wrong way. The case against Feichín was paper thin and I believe it would have been dismissed were it not for that damned statement and the fact that Una was handed the statement and told to review it before her testimony."

Hannon has also criticised the garda investigation, saying that investigating gardaí in Clifden were aware there was an ongoing row between his family and the Hardesters over land. "The gardaí just wanted to believe that I was guilty and wanted it all over and done with. I'll never forget getting arrested and interrogated by them. They kept saying, 'You did it. Why would she make this up?'" he said.

Speaking for the first time in an extensive statement released to the Sunday Tribune this weekend, Una Hardester (23), who now lives in the US, said she knows the case is "far from over".

"If an investigation is indeed conducted, I will certainly co-operate to the extent I am able. All of this took place half my lifetime ago, and my memories of specific events connected with the case have degraded and warped to what I believe to be the point of unreliability. Much else of my years in Aughrismore I have forced myself to forget," she said.

She added that the allegation she made as a child still affects her current life.

"When I think about my past, it is a looming wave of darkness. I have been trying to run and hide from it, block it out, and turn my back on it out of self-preservation for many years. At the same time, I did what I had to: I cleared Feichín's name."

She also questioned that the false claim she made as a child should dominate her adult life. "I am no longer sure of how much guilt in all of this belongs to me. Ultimately, I was a small child throughout the entire duration of the case. I was an adult when I returned to Ireland to set things right, but barely. I had just turned 20. I struggle to reconcile my sense of guilt and my intellectual conviction that any offences committed by minors should be regarded differently than those committed by adults, and that no one should be made to pay long into adulthood for something she or he did as a child," she said "I know that this is not remotely over yet, and it is my hope that Feichín receives compensation from the state. Given that he received a miscarriage of justice certificate, I believe he will be compensated."