Gardaí liaise with Australian police after girl identified

Gardaí are liaising with Australian police after they identified a girl found in a distressed state in Dublin last month.

After gardai released a photograph of the girl yesterday, she was identified within hours.

Gardaí said they were following a definite line of inquiry and would be liaising closely with the Australian police and the HSE to finalise the matter.

The High Court last week granted the Garda permission to release information about the teenager, believed to be aged 14 or 15, who was found outside the GPO on O'Connell Street in Dublin on October 10th.

Gardaí said they had reached “an impasse” and had received no information from the public on the matter before yesterday’s release of the photo.

Before her identity had been confirmed, a senior Garda source said they were “very happy” with the response of the public throughout yesterday.

One line of inquiry had been the possibility that the girl – who is not Irish but of “European extraction” – may have been trafficked into the country.

Gardaí said they had engaged with the girl, who has limited English, but they had been unable to identify her or her country of origin until yesterday.

Specialist child interviewers were utilised by investigators.

An Australian Federal Police (AFP) spokesman said it had been asked for help by the gardaí and was liaising with Irish authorities.

"The AFP can confirm that it has received a request for assistance via Interpol from Irish authorities this morning (Wednesday)," he said.

“As this matter is ongoing, it is not appropriate for the AFP to comment any further.”

The spokesman said it was “a private matter”.

“Even once she has been officially identified we would not be commenting on it further. She has not been arrested or charged with anything,”