Gardai seek hoaxers in baby case

Gardaí were last night investigating the source of a number of hoax phone calls that sparked a major search for a supposedly abandoned baby.

The three-day search, which cost tens of thousands of euros, was called off last night after gardaí confirmed that several calls made in relation to incident were not genuine.

Officers were able to identify the source of some of the calls by using a "caller ID" function, according to one Garda source.

A team of 40 gardaí were involved in the high-profile search, along with dozens of Dublin City Council officials, the Garda helicopter and plain clothes detectives.

Gardaí estimate they searched or called to around 2,600 flats in the Ballymun area since the alarm was first raised on Monday morning.

A young woman, believed to be between 13 and 16-years-old, made a telephone call to a Garda helpline in the early hours of Monday morning. She said she had given birth to a baby boy, wrapped him in her jacket, and put him behind a sofa in a flat in Ballymun. She gave an address for the baby in the Poppintree area, but gardaí found no such flat existed.

Further phone calls were made on Tuesday by a young woman in a distressed state, however, gardaí said the caller did not provide them with useful information.

Insp Karl Heller of Santry Garda Station, who was helping to co-orindinate the search, said last night he was "saddened" that a prankster appeared to have sparked the incident. He said there may be criminal proceedings arising from the hoax calls, but said it was too early to definitively comment.

Gardaí in Santry and Ballymun, who were involved in the search will meet this morning to discuss the next stage of the investigation.