Smartphone app to help find lost children launched

A smartphone app that will send out an immediate alert when a child goes missing has been launched.

The app is designed to be of use in a country where more than half the population now own a smartphone.

The alert will include a picture of the missing child, age, nationality and other distinguishing features along with information on where the child was last seen.

Parents will be able to upload details about their own children and release them if their child ever goes missing and if there is a reasonable belief that the child is in danger.

Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan said the app would provide a vital service in the immediate aftermath of a child going missing, when the chances of that child returning safely to their home was greatest.

He believed it could be a vital part of the Child Rescue Ireland (CRI) service, launched last year, which was recently used when three children went missing with their mother from their home in Co Roscommon last week. The children were found just hours after the alert was triggered. Commissioner Callinan said the app had "enormous" potential to reach vast numbers of the population.