Boy, 2, reunited with family after investigation

A 2-and-a-half-year-old Roma boy was reunited with his parents in Westmeath just before lunchtime yesterday.

The fair-haired, blue-eyed boy, was taken into care at around 7pm on Tuesday when gardaí called to the boy’s home in Athlone.

The father, from Athlone in the midlands, claimed he and his partner were left in the dark about why the child was put in State care. “I was upset, I just felt so sad — they took my baby,” he said.

Gardaí were believed to be acting on concerns about the boy’s appearance, but were satisfied about his identity after carrying out inquiries.

Gardaí informed the parents, who also have a 4-year-old girl of a darker complexion, of the case in Tallaght where a young girl was removed from a family.

The boy’s 22-year-old father was surprised his son was taken.

“I was pretty sad, that’s the truth, anyone would be sad if their kids go away,” he said.

“It was very bad last night, I couldn’t sleep,” the father said, adding that the boy’s older sister was crying and asking for her brother.

Appearing oblivious to the commotion caused by his removal, the boy happily played on a tricycle outside his family home yesterday.

The events unfolded in Athlone on Tuesday when two gardaí called to his house and asked the man and his partner to come with them to Athlone Garda Station. “They did not tell me straight away what happened,” he explained.

“I go there [the Garda station] and they tell me what happened. I said, ‘why do you want to take my kid? You can go to the hospital and see it is my kid’,” he explained.

The man asked gardaí not to remove the child: “I said take blood, take what you want, but don’t take my kid from me because I never want nobody to take my kids.

“They tell me ‘we want to take him for one night, we want to take him to Dublin for blood and everything’. I said OK.”

The father said his family have resided at their current address for a year. They have lived in Ireland since 2005 and his son was born in Ballinasloe hospital.

Pointing to a picture of the child’s fair-haired grandfather, the man said his son is also fair-haired and blue-eyed. “What can I do about that?” he asked.

He claimed one of the gardaí who attended at the house has known him for the last five years.

“I no make trouble in this country, the guards, they know that,” he commented.

The father collected his son from a health centre in Athlone shortly before lunchtime yesterday.

He was told that gardaí expected to have the results of paternity tests at about 5pm yesterday.