Gardaí concentrate search on abandoned flats

Gardaí are concentrating their search for a missing newborn baby on a complex of abandoned flats in the Ballymun area.

A teenage girl believed to have abandoned a newborn baby in a vacant flat contacted gardaí last night and as a result of the latest information officers shifted their search to the Sandyhall flats, many of which are boarded up.

The girl, thought to be aged between 13 and 16, sparked a major search of the Ballymun area of north Dublin when she contacted a helpline on Monday to say she had left the baby boy wrapped in a jacket behind a sofa.

A Garda spokesman said she made fresh contact with the helpline last night and then made a number of calls to officers.

Superintendent John Farrelly confirmed that the search was moved to a four-storey block of flats after a number of short calls were made to Ballymun Garda Station late last night.

He said: “We brought in cutting equipment last night to let ourselves into those particular flats just to make sure.

“They are very inaccessible because when they are abandoned like that steel doors are put up.”

A team of about 30 to 40 gardai was resuming door-to-door inquiries this morning.

Supt Farrelly added: “Our main focus is in relation to this young girl who we believe is very distressed.

“We believe from different contacts she could be between 13 and 16 years of age and obviously extremely vulnerable, extremely upset and on each contact she is extremely upset.

“We are dealing with somebody that is very, very distressed and that’s why we have been trying to encourage her or somebody who’s with her to come to us because all we will do is give her as much help as she needs.

“She should not be afraid to come to us because that’s what we are there for.”

He said gardaí were now extremely concerned for the welfare of the baby and the mother. The young woman told the helpline that she had delivered the baby boy on Sunday.