Mother of abandoned baby ‘must get help’

GARDAÍ are becoming increasingly concerned for the mother of a baby found abandoned on a roadside last week.

Despite extensive searches since the baby girl was found in Dublin, officers have been unable to track down her mother.

A member of the force has said: ‘The more time passes, the greater our concerns are.’

An extensive air and ground search took place along the Dublin and Kildare boundary on Friday afternoon and evening to locate the mother but as darkness fell no trace of her had been found.

Over the weekend, searches continued with gardaí and HSE staff concentrating on hospital admissions, on physical searches of the countryside and on people in the community who may have come in to contact with the woman.

They renewed their appeal for her to seek immediate medical attention and have said that they wish to reunite the woman with her child.

It’s believed the baby girl may have been born 24 to 36 hours prior to her discovery at the entrance to a field in Rathcoole, Co. Dublin.

The baby was fed and nourished but was left in a plastic bag in torrential rain on a rarely frequented laneway which is subject to regular illegal dumping.

After being found by a motorist, the child was given emergency medical attention at the scene and taken to Tallaght Hospital, where she remains in a stable condition.

Superintendent Brendan Connolly, of Clondalkin Garda station, has assured the mother that help would be available if she came forward.

He said: ‘Gardaí are concerned for the welfare of the mother of this child and are appealing for her to seek immediate medical treatment and to contact gardaí who are anxious to reunite her with her baby.

‘Gardaí will deal with this matter with the utmost sensitivity and care for both mother and child.’

Staff at Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, are matching the child with a suitable foster family, a process that will take a number of weeks.

Meanwhile, the baby has not yet been named by hospital staff, a source told our sister paper, the Irish Mail On Sunday.