Gardaí to search area in Dublin as part of investigation into missing boy feared dead

Gardaí investigating the suspicious disappearance of a young boy — last seen five years ago — have begun searching an area of open ground off the Portrane Road on the outskirts of Donabate village in Dublin.

Gardaí are continuing to conduct extensive inquiries to determine what exactly happened to the child, but they believe he is deceased.

Tusla, the child and family agency, has confirmed that it notified gardaí last Friday about its concerns for the safety and wellbeing of the boy.

A case conference on the missing child is to be held by gardaí this afternoon.

The case has been given the resources of a murder investigation but it is still unclear whether the child, who is presumed dead, was the victim of homicide or suffered an accidental death.

A search on the overgrown waste ground is expected to take some days.

'Macabre coincidence'

The contact was made exactly a year after gardaí received a similar report about the disappearance of a child, Kyran Durnin, aged 6, in Louth.

A garda source said the similarities between the two cases is a “macabre coincidence”.

The Dublin case relates to a boy who had been living in Donabate but has not been seen since he was around three and a half years old. 

There are no records of the child having started school. 

The boy is last known to have resided at The Gallery Apartments in Donabate in Dublin. It has been a number of years since there has been any confirmed sighting of the boy, who would now be seven years of age, if alive.

New Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said gardaí have been unable to identify any information on his current whereabouts or evidence as to whether he is alive. “Tragically, investigating gardaí believe the boy is deceased," Mr Kelly said.  

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Kelly also appealed for anyone with information on the missing boy to contact investigating gardaí.

It is understood the case was brought to the attention of gardaí after an application was made for social welfare in respect of the child.

Although gardaí are not releasing any details about the family involved, it is understood the mother has spoken to gardaí in recent days.

Gardaí in north Dublin began inquiries and an apartment in the Portrane area of north Dublin was searched and technically examined on Saturday.

On Monday, gardaí said they "took control of an area of open ground in Donabate, Co Dublin" which will be the subject of a search over the coming days.

The Garda investigation is being led by a Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) based out of an incident room established at Swords Garda Station.

It is understood that a number of allegations about what happened to the child, that differ with each other, have been made to gardaí in the last three days.

Gardaí are examining each of them in a bid to establish what has happened in the case.

The boy is last known to have resided at The Gallery Apartments in Donabate in Dublin. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins, Dublin.

Sources have described the case as “convoluted” but gardaí are continuing to carry out inquiries.

They are hoping to pin down an accurate timeframe of the child’s whereabouts over the years and who — both family members and state officials — had dealings with the child.

This includes speaking to relatives, neighbours, and other locals.

Gardaí are also checking with local playschools and schools as well as GPs to gather information. A source said: "Our belief would be that the child is deceased. How that has happened is still to be determined. It is scarily similar to the Kyran Durnin case."

Garda sources say there are no concerns about other children in relation to the Dublin case.

House to house enquiries are being conducted in the Donabate area to enable gardaí to build a timeline of when exactly the child was last seen.

No arrests have yet been made as part of the ongoing garda investigation.

'Horrifying and heartbreaking'

The Children’s Rapporteur, Caoilfhionn Gallagher, has described the case of the missing child in north county Dublin as “horrifying and heartbreaking.”

“I very much understand the public concern that I'm seeing about how this could happen with a three and a half year old child. And you often hear that phrase it takes a village to raise a child but there's also that real question about us needing to have a village, to watch out for children so we spot when things go wrong,” she told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show.

However, Ms Gallagher said it was “encouraging” that the case was progressing swiftly. A key question, she said, was whether the child had previously been known to authorities. She acknowledged that the disappearance of a child would not have been apparent during Covid lockdowns.

“Did this child have a social worker? Had there been any previous references of concern to the Gardaí and so on? And there's nothing whatsoever to indicate at the moment that this child was on the radar of any authorities. So from what we know, It sounds as if when Tusla learned of the concerns after the social welfare claims, they responded quickly, they raised questions with the Gardai.

“Gardai have acted quickly and things are in process."

Although the case was "horrifying and heartbreaking," she said current information did not suggest the same failures in institutional responses as in the "horrendous" case of Kyran Durnin.

“I'm obviously extremely concerned by what I've heard about this child and my heart goes out to this child's loved ones. 

"I think there are real questions about whether at any stage, including preschoolers, but also including children who are post compulsory school age, whether we need to have better systems in place for ensuring that vulnerable children, children who may be at risk, are on the radar.” 

Minister for children Norma Foley said she is "deeply concerned” about the child at the centre of the Dublin investigation.

She said she has been briefed by officials and has spoken to Tusla chief executive Kate Duggan, in relation to the case.

The boy is among more than 140 children currently missing in Ireland, according to garda missing person reports and Interpol Yellow Notice lists.

An Irish Examiner study of reports of missing children in January found that there were 137 cases of people who had gone missing as children. Since January, four have been found. 

However, on Monday evening, there are 145 such cases, including those of the Donabate boy and Kyran Durnin.

Kyran, who would be nine this year, is believed to have been murdered, with the last known images of him taken in June 2022.

On Friday, gardaí made a fresh appeal for information about the whereabouts of the Louth boy, as efforts have so far failed to establish what happened to him.

A man and a woman were arrested as part of the garda investigation but nobody has been charged in connection with the case.