Up to 40 gardaí are involved in a house to house search in Dublin's Ballymun tonight following a distress call from a young woman whom they believe may have given birth in a flat in the area.
The woman is understood to have contacted a third party claiming that she had given birth to a baby boy in the early hours of Sunday morning.
She said she had left the child in the flat and made the call immediately afterwards. The young woman was said to be in an extremely distressed state.
However, gardaí have confirmed that there is no such flat as given by the caller and intensive searches today have so far proved fruitless.
A garda spokesman this evening told ireland.comthat up to 40 gardaí were tonight searching a number of vacant flats.Earlier gardaí reissued their appeal to a young woman to come forward and contact them.
The woman is asked to again contact the third party that she rang, or alternatively contact Ballymun Station direct at 01-6664400 or the Garda Confidential Line 1800-666111.
"We wish to assure this woman that she will be treated with the utmost compassion and sensitivity if she makes contact," the gardaí said in a statement today.