The Garda Síochána is to significantly step up efforts to find the mother of a newborn baby found abandoned, amid growing concern for the physical and mental health of the mother.
A press conference is to take place at Clondalkin Garda station in west Dublin at 11.30am today, at which senior gardaí are to appeal directly to the woman to come forward.
Members of the force are to speak to the print and broadcast media as part of a “press blitz” designed to ensure blanket coverage, in the hope that the woman can be reached.
Senior sources said they’re fearful she may have given birth alone and may be in urgent need of medical attention. They are also concerned for her mental health.
“Obviously, you’d be afraid for her no matter what age she was, but it’s always in the back of your mind this could be a young girl,” said one officer.
“And she might be in a bad way physically, or very fearful. So we are keen to trace her. And we want to make it really clear we want to help her and treat her with respect and in confidence; whether she is a younger girl or not.”
Other sources stressed the woman was “not in trouble and not under investigation”, and that the authorities wanted to contact her to help her and her child.
The baby girl was found at around 3.30pm on Friday on Steelstown road near the Kildare-Dublin border, close to Rathcoole and the busy N7.
The man who found the child had stopped his car on what is effectively a country road behind the Blackchurch Inn, which is visible to motorists on the southbound carriageway on the N7.
It is understood he planned to urinate off the road into the gateway of a field when he found the child wrapped in a bin liner.
Contacted gardaí
He was with his partner at the time and when they found the baby they contacted the Garda, and waited at the scene until members of the force arrived.
It was raining heavily at the time and temperatures were unseasonably cold.
The baby was taken into the care of the State and brought to the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital in Dublin.
The child has been in a stable condition and is believed to be no more than three days old when found. Based on medical checks, gardaí believe she had been fed and was well cared for.
Her care was being overseen by the Health Service Executive, which is liaising with the Garda in the attempt to find the girl's mother.
The area where the child was found was searched by a Garda team on the ground, aided by the Garda helicopter.
Last Friday, the investigation team headed by Supt Brendan Connolly, based in Clondalkin station, decided to issue a statement via the media appealing for the mother to come forward.
Child healthy
It followed that with similar statements in which the condition of the child was confirmed as healthy and the emphasis was on extending compassion to the girl’s mother.
Gardaí are hopeful the mother will be reassured that the State’s interest is in helping her if she were to see and hear interviews with Garda members appealing directly to her.
Gardaí also appealed to anyone who was in the area where the child was found in the hours before the discovery last Friday afternoon to come forward.
