The three children of a Co Derry couple remain in care this morning in Portugal after their parents collapsed drunk at a hotel on the Algarve at the weekend.
The family, who are from Magherafelt, went out to dinner on Friday night just hours after arriving in Portugal, but when they returned to their hotel in Vilamoura on the Algarve at dawn, the parents could not reach their hotel room and had to be assisted into a lift by staff.
The three children aged one, three and six years were upset and crying, according to hotel workers who called the Portuguese National Institute of Medical Emergency.
While the parents, aged 35 and 32, were taken to the Loulé Health Clinic to recover, the children were brought to the Aboim Ascensao shelter in Faro.
Dr Luis Villas-Boas, the shelter director, said the incident was "very, very shocking".
"It was extreme neglect and abandonment. I hope somebody carries this information to the UK so these parents can at least be seen because these children are indeed at risk" he said.
The parents are now expected to face investigation by UK social services.
The incident happened on the eve of the first anniversary of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, who went missing from her family's Algarve holiday flat while her parents dined nearby.