Police in Paris have confirmed a sighting of the disabled Dublin man missing in the city since last Wednesday.
Mr Brendan Brady (42), who has muscular dystrophy, scoliosis and a speech impediment, disappeared during a visit to Euro-Disney organised by RehabCare.
A spokesman for the Rehab Group, Mr Chris Macey, said police have confirmed a sighting of Mr Brady at 7 p.m. on Saturday on Place St Augustin, near Boulevard Hausmann. "We have five staff there at the moment working with the police and we are hoping for a resolution in the next 24 to 48 hours," Ms Angela Kerins, chief executive of RehabCare said.
It is thought Mr Brady, who is from Palmerstown, was spotted by a tramp.
Mr Brady's mother, Eileen, stressed how supportive RehabCare had been since Mr Brady's disappearance, but said: "I don't understand how they could have lost him. When I'm with him I have a hold of him, right beside me."
Mr Macey said the group had met last Wednesday at a designated point at 6 p.m. prior to leaving Euro Disney. "As they were leaving a show started beside them and some of the group stopped to look at it. At the exit the staff realised Brendan was no longer with them. It really all happened in the space of about five minutes."
Two RehabCare staff were supervising the group of eight. Mr Macey said one member of staff to four clients was "well within limits".
Mr Brady had no jacket on and very little money when he went missing. He walks with a stoop that is more pronounced when he is tired, Mrs Brady said. "He has a speech impediment. It sounds like he's slurring his words so people he'd approach might think he was drunk, and with the language barrier - there's no way he could cope."
However, she said her son "would be alert enough to know, though, to get himself to a police station if he was lost. That's what has us so worried."