Gardaí question woman in connection with disappearance of Kyran Durnin

It is understood that gardaí have spoken to the woman, aged in her 50s, multiple times. She is not currently suspected of killing the child

Gardaí at a house on Hand St in Drogheda, Co Louth, yesterday, Monday, where they carried out a search as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Kyran Durnin. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA

A woman arrested in connection with the disappearance and murder of six-year-old Kyran Durnin is being questioned about different accounts she has given about what happened to the child.

Gardaí have spoken to the woman, aged in her 50s, multiple times before, finding inconsistencies in what she said happened to the boy, it is understood.

The woman is suspected of having vital information about the child’s disappearance, but she is not currently suspected of killing Kyran, it is understood.

A home in Drogheda, Co Louth, was also being searched by gardaí for any traces of the little boy yesterday, Monday. This is the fourth major search as part of the murder investigation.

Kyran would have been 10 this month

Kyran should have celebrated his 10th birthday this month.

The woman in her 50s is the third person arrested in connection with the case.

Two other people — a woman and a man who were both known to Kyran — have been previously arrested, but they were released without charge.

That woman is now living in Britain, but has sometimes returned to Ireland over the course of the investigation.

The man who was arrested and later released, Anthony Maguire, aged 36, was from Drogheda.

Garda theories 

Gardaí suspected that Mr Maguire had provided false information to Tusla regarding Kyran and that he had involvement in another boy, a “decoy child”, being brought to meetings with social workers pretending to be Kyran after he disappeared in the summer of 2022.

However, days after he was released without charge, Mr Maguire was found dead at his home in Drogheda. Gardaí described his death as a personal tragedy.

Kyran reported missing in 2024

Kyran was reported missing in August 2024. A homicide investigation was launched in October 2024.

Gardaí have seen time-stamped photos of Kyran alive in June 2022. Gardaí believe that he was killed around that time.

He attended St Nicholas’s Monastery National School in Dundalk until May 2022. His mother reported that he was sick with covid, and he missed the rest of that term.

The school had been told that Kyran would be moving to the North, so would not return in September.

Although there have been multiple searches in properties in Drogheda and Dundalk, Kyran’s remains have not been found.

In an update on Monday, gardaí said a woman in her 50s is currently being detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at a garda station in the eastern region.

Minister's appeal to the public 

Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan welcomed the development.

“Obviously, there are people out there who have information in respect of this crime. That information should be brought to the attention of An Garda Síochána,” Mr O’Callaghan said on Monday.

“The only mechanism in order that justice can be served in Ireland is if the gardaí investigating have sufficient information to pass on to the DPP for a prosecution, and then our courts deal with the matter.

“Anyone who has information in respect of Kyran Durnin needs to give that information to An Garda Síochána.”