Woman questioned on hoax calls recovering in hospital

The woman at the centre of an investigation into false claims regarding an abandoned baby in the Ballymun area of Dublin was recovering in hospital last night.

The mother of five from Mullingar, Co Westmeath, was found unconscious in her car along the banks of Lough Ennell yesterday afternoon, several hours after being released from Garda custody.

A spokeswoman for the Midlands Health Board last night confirmed that she was in a stable condition at Mullingar General Hospital.

However, there was criticism from some local politicians at the manner in which the 33-year-old single mother was released from Garda custody.

Gardaí say there will be an investigation into the circumstances of this latest development in a saga which has involved a three-day search for a supposedly abandoned baby in a derelict flat earlier this week following hoax calls to gardaí.

The woman was released from Mullingar Garda station at about 3.50 a.m. yesterday after being held for almost 10 hours, and was brought back to her home in a council estate in the town, where her father was present.

It is believed the mother, who Garda sources say has a history of mental illness, spent a short period of time at home but then left the house. Her father reported her missing at about 10 a.m. and gardaí later found her unconscious in her car at about 1.20 p.m.

One local public representative, who declined to be named, said: "There are questions to be asked over the way she was released given the condition she must have been in. Surely there should be some counselling service available in this kind of situation."

The woman has also been linked to other hoax calls, including one in March this year where a mother claimed she had had a baby in difficult circumstances in the Donegal area. The claims turned out to be false.

Locals in Mullingar say the woman has a tragic family history and that at least one close member of her family died in the last year.

The woman was questioned early yesterday regarding the hoax calls and related waste of Garda time. The offence carries a maximum sentence of five years.

A caller originally claimed she left a newborn baby, wrapped in a coat, behind a sofa in a derelict Ballymun flat. Gardaí ended an extensive search effort on Wednesday night when it became clear the calls were not genuine.