A plea has been made to the mother of a 20-week-old foetus which was found in a waste sewage plant yesterday morning in Borris, Co Carlow.
The body of the perfectly formed male, born 16 weeks prematurely, was discovered by a workman with Carlow County Council at 9 a.m. when he went to check the facility just off the main street in the town. He immediately contacted his superiors and gardaí.
It has been established that the baby entered the system on Monday and was either flushed down a toilet somewhere in the town or thrown into an underground drain between Sunday night and yesterday morning.
Supt Aidan Roche, of Thomastown, said his main concern was for the health and welfare of the mother, and he appealed to her to seek medical assistance as soon as possible.
He added that she had nothing to fear, and confirmed that the baby could not have survived on its own at 20 weeks.
The State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, carried out a full post-mortem examination, but the results have not been made public.