Their mothers struck up a friendship and a tradition was born.

Three babies who were born on the same day at the same hospital have reunited for their 30th birthday. Caoimhe Whelan, Eoin Conlan and Patrick Quinlan were all born within twelves hours of one another in August 1991 at the Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital in Dublin. Their mothers Caroline O’Leary, Helen Conlon and Kathleen Burke met in one of the hospital's wards and struck up a strong friendship with each other. Before leaving the hospital, the three mams agreed to meet up the following year when the babies would be one year old. They did, thus beginning an annual tradition of reuniting on Portmarnock Beach around the time of their children's birthdays. The families have met on the beach every year since their first meet-up in 1992. This year was particularly worthy of celebration as it was a landmark birthday. Caoimhe, Eoin and Patrick all turned 30 this week and returned to the beach with their mothers to celebrate together.