Search is on as Kimye touch down in Cork

Not since Shergar went missing has a search of the Irish countryside generated as much interest as the hunt for Kimye, the uber-celebrity couple who arrived in Cork on Sunday for a short honeymoon following a wedding to rival the Medici’s in Florence at the weekend.

Social media was buzzing today with rumours of the whereabouts of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West while radio stations appealed for sightings of the couple who proved to be as elusive as Lord Lucan, unusually for a pair who appear to live for the limelight.

News that Kimye were in Ireland broke late yesterday evening only to be discounted this morning with some sources suggesting that an entirely different celebrity - although one almost as famous - had come to Ireland for a mini-break.

A source in Cork Airport confirmed to The Irish Times, however, that the famously bling television star and her rapper husband had in reality touched down in a Lear jet shortly after 4pm this afternoon. Once immigration issues were dealt with - on board the plane - the newly-weds were whisked off in a Mercedes with darkened windows to a destination unknown.

“The jet was only carrying two passengers and there was no entourage,” the source said. “I only saw them for a split second but it was definitely them. I wasn’t a bit bothered about them to be honest,” she said. “God himself would have to get off the plane for me to interested,” she added.

For much of today, the smart money on the whereabouts of the Wests - who left their child North with his granny - was the Castlemartyr Hotel in Cork which led to hundreds of teenagers and the paparazzi descending on the resort hoping to catch a glimpse of the suddenly reclusive couple.

When the hotel was contacted, however, a spokeswoman said that under no circumstances would she “disclose the name of any of the guests who are or may not be staying here. That is company policy,” she said with the weariness of a woman who had been keeping the press pack at bay for hours.

Other reports which were similarly unconfirmed suggested that the couple may have wound up in Castle Oliver in Co Limerick. The castle declined to comment on the rumours.

Anxious not to miss a trick, marketing staff at Tourism Ireland are anxiously waiting to find out where the pair are and are monitoring Ms Kardashian's social media activity carefully. She has over 40 million followers on Twitter and Facebook although she has been unusually quite over the last 48 hours "We're working hard to produce a guide for their fans about where they are, or rather where they might be," a spokesman said. "We'd love to be able to give their millions of followers the information so maybe they can follow in their footsteps. It's a global story."