Couple heard crying as baby abandoned at church

A BABY boy was last night in the care of the Health Service Executive (HSE) after being abandoned in the porch of Carlow Cathedral yesterday afternoon.

The baby, thought to be just seven months old, was left in a buggy just before 2.30pm yesterday with a note attached giving his first name and surname.

Gardaí last night strongly appealed for a couple who they believe left the baby there to contact them.

It is understood a person visiting the cathedral heard a couple crying as they left the porch area.

Gardaí say the baby is in good health and appears to have been very well looked after.

The couple who left the baby there have not yet been located and gardaí say they want them to contact them as they are concerned for their well-being.

They said they have also been in touch with port and airport authorities and with the police in England as they believe there may be a connection there.

It is not the first time a baby has been left in a church in this country.

In 2004, a newborn baby girl was discovered outside the Church of Our Lady’s Nativity in Leixlip, Co Kildare.

She was the second newborn baby to be abandoned that year.

Earlier that year a newborn baby boy was found abandoned at a bus stop on Clanbrassil Street in Dublin city centre. He was left in a shopping bag, wrapped in a towel and tinfoil.

In 2000, a baby boy was also abandoned outside a church in Dublin city centre. The toddler was left in his buggy at the gates of St John’s Lane Church in the city.

Other incidents of abandoned babies include an infant girl who was left in a railway station in Dublin in 2005 and a baby girl, just three days old, who was found in a hospital car park in Cork.