Gardaí have received a number of calls from the public after they appealed for the mother of a newborn baby girl found abandoned on the outskirts of Dublin last Friday to come forward.
The infant was found on Steelstown Road, a side road near the Blackchurch Inn in Rathcoole.
A motorist who had stopped for a toilet break at a gateway heard sounds and discovered the child wrapped in a blanket and bin liner, inside a Marks & Spencer paper carrier bag. The man and his partner alerted gardaí.
The baby, who has been named Maria, is doing well at the Coombe hospital in Dublin.
24-hours old
Gardaí believe the location where the child was found was a “highly unusual” spot to leave a baby.
“It’s not somewhere you’d abandon a child if you wanted someone to find it and it’s also not the kind of place you’d leave her if you didn’t want people to find her. It’s baffling,” said one Garda officer.
The child is believed to have been born in Ireland in the 24 hours before being found.
It is suspected there was no medical care at the birth. Checks by the investigating team with maternity hospitals have failed to find any sudden self-discharge of a mother and baby.
It is hoped replicas of items found with the baby, which were put on display yesterday, may lead to their being recognised. They included a brown fleece blanket and a blue towel. A television appeal may follow.
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