An infant girl was in the care of health services last night after she had been left abandoned in a railway station in Dublin yesterday afternoon.
At around 3.45pm yesterday a passenger alerted Iarnród Éireann staff at Tara Street Dart station that there was an unaccompanied child in a buggy close to stairs near the southbound platform.
Staff took the child to the ticket office. Gardaí were alerted and the baby was taken to nearby Pearse Street station.
She was later handed over to the local health board, where she is still being cared for.
Last night, gardaí located the child's family and withdrew a previous appeal for information that they had issued. There were no arrests made.
A file is currently being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to the abandonment.
The girl, who is between 18 months and two years of age, has red curly hair. When she was found in the railway station she was wearing a blue denim dress and jacket with white socks.
"She was fast asleep the whole time," said ticket officer Val Kealey.
"That was strange because of all the noise going on in a busy train station.
"She was obviously well looked after. She was very clean. A lovely little girl," Mr Kealey added. It is thought that the child was abandoned by a man on his own who had brought her on a southbound train from Connolly Station.
When the Dart pulled into Tara Street it is believed that the man got off with the baby in the buggy, left her down a small flight of stairs and then got back on the same train, which had coincidentally been delayed at the station for a couple of minutes.
When the child was found, she was asleep in the buggy, facing a glass wall looking out over the Liffey at Tara Street.
According to an Iarnród Éireann staff member, a suspect was filmed on CCTV and the tape was later examined by gardaí.
The man was described as being about 5ft 10in in height, with red hair, combed back at the sides.