‘How would you feel if your child was taken?’

As the family of one of the two Roma children taken from their care contemplates legal action, calls were mounting for an independent inquiry into the Garda handling of the two cases.

DNA tests last night proved that a seven-year-old girl, taken from her family home in Tallaght on Monday by members of Tallaght’s Child Protection Unit, was in fact the biological child of the Roma parents. She was released back into the care of her parents and arrived home just before 10pm after the results of the tests were released.

It also emerged yesterday that another Roma child, this time a two-year-old fair-haired boy, was taken from his Roma parents in Athlone on Tuesday, but was returned to their care at around 12pm yesterday after DNA tests confirmed the child’s parentage.