Gardaí have made contact with the family of an Irish woman who police in Australia believe abandoned her baby in a Queensland toilet cubicle earlier this week.
The woman was identified after CCTV footage of her was released in Australia which showed her walking from a Gold Coast toilet block alone. Members of the Australian public contacted the police there informing them she was an Irish woman.
Gardaí were then given the woman's details and have since contacted her family. Australian police had first tried to contact the woman by speaking to her friends in Australia. The woman has since left the country.
The baby boy, aged between two and four weeks, was found by a member of the public in the toilet cubicle at the tourist resort of Surfers Paradise on Queensland's Gold Coast at about 7.45am on Monday.
He was wrapped in a towel and placed inside a black environmentally-friendly hessian shopping bag. A bag containing baby items and towels was left with the child.
The baby was reported to be in good health and had been well cared for before being abandoned.
Queensland police and the department of child safety conducted extensive inquiries to try to locate the birth mother.
From the outset of their search for the woman Queensland police said the manner she had left the baby and supplies for his care indicated she was "someone who may be in need of some help or assistance".
The matter has since been passed on by Queensland police to the Australian federal police.
However, a spokesman for Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin told The Irish Times the incident was being treated strictly as a health and social issue.
He said the department was appealing for the privacy of the family at the centre of the case to be respected. It was unclear what course of action would now be taken in the best interests of the child.
