Gardaí investigating disappearance of Kyran Durnin (8) to search his former home in Dundalk, Co Louth

Gardaí searching for the remains of Kyran Durnin (8) have ramped up their investigation by taking possession of a house in Dundalk, Co Louth, where his family lived until May of this year.

The terraced house on Emer Terrace, now home to new tenants unconnected with the investigation, was taken over by gardaí on Monday after they were granted a District Court order. That court application took place a week after the investigation into Kyran’s disappearance was officially upgraded to a murder inquiry, rather than a missing persons case.

The Dundalk property is due to undergo extensive searching and technical examination this week. The garden of the house, and ground beside it, will also be closely examined.

The move to seal off the house and subject it to such a thorough search is the most significant development in the investigation to date. Gardaí believe Kyran may have been killed two years ago.

“The purpose of these searches are to discover any evidence which might provide us with information as to Kyran’s current whereabouts or what has happened to Kyran,” the Garda said in a statement on Tuesday.

The investigation is also trying to determine the last confirmed sighting of Kyran before he vanished. His last known sighting was in 2022. Detectives are checking the veracity of evidence supplied to them about his whereabouts and welfare in the intervening period.

When Kyran was officially reported missing from his home in Drogheda, Co Louth, at the end of August, gardaí opened an investigation. However, that missing persons inquiry, for the boy and his mother Dayla Durnin (24), was stood down last week.

Gardaí said on the same day they had found no evidence Kyran was alive, despite extensive inquiries, and they were upgrading the missing persons case to a murder inquiry as they strongly suspected he was dead. It is understood Ms Durnin was traced and spoken to by gardaí, meaning a missing persons inquiry into her whereabouts was no longer required.

Tusla had some dealings with the child’s family in previous years but there was no indication he was a victim of abuse. The agency is co-operating with gardaí and has handed over a large amount of documentation relating to the child.

On Monday, Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman confirmed he had taken the unusual step of making a request for Tusla to send its files on Kyran to a specialist panel that looks into the death of any child with links to State care.

Such files are normally sent to the National Review Panel after a Garda investigation has concluded. But given the unusual nature of the case, the Green Party leader confirmed he has asked for an immediate transfer of the files, even though an investigation only commenced last week.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has said if there were any shortcomings in child protection procedures, they needed to be identified and action taken.

“If there were there failings here, how do we address those failings and are there people who need to be held responsible for those failings,” she said last week. Ms McEntee was “absolutely adamant that if there were failings here, people need to be held accountable”.

Speaking at a press conference in Dundalk on Tuesday morning, Chief Supt Alan McGovern said: “The purpose of these searches are to discover any evidence which might provide us with information as to Kyran’s current whereabouts or what has happened to Kyran.

“The house is known to have been Kyran’s family home for a period of years up to May 2024. I must emphasise that the current tenants of this house are not connected in anyway with Kyran or his disappearance.”

He said that Kyran was a student in a local national school in Dundalk up to about the end of the 2021/2022 primary school year.

“Kyran was reported missing, along with his mother, to An Garda Síochána on August 30th, 2024, and as having been last seen on or about the August 28th, 2024. An Garda Síochána has identified the whereabouts of Kyran’s mother.

“Despite extensive enquiries carried out by gardaí to date, An Garda Síochána have been unable to either locate Kyran, identify any information on his current whereabouts or any evidence that he is currently alive.”

He said gardaí now believe he is dead.

“An Garda Síochána’s sole focus and primary concern, and that of the investigation team is Kyran. We want to discover where Kyran is. We want to discover what has happened to Kyran.

“I continue to appeal to anyone who has any information in connection with the disappearance of Kyran to contact investigating gardaí. Do not rule out any information that you may have. Please do not assume that the investigation team know the information that you may have.

“Any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, will be welcomed by the investigation team. This information will be treated in the strictest confidence.

“You can contact the Garda Investigation Team at Drogheda Garda station on 041 987 4200, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or speak with any member of An Garda Síochána.”

Speaking earlier on Tuesday morning, Taoiseach Simon Harris said he was hoping for a breakthrough in the investigation “like everybody across the country”.

“The case of Kyran Durnin is deeply disturbing, deeply upsetting, and in fact I’d go so far as to say it’s utterly horrifying.

“For any of us as a human being, for any of us as a parent, to think that a child can effectively disappear and [it] not be noticed that they’re not there is utterly heartbreaking and clearly something went extraordinarily wrong here.

“This child was failed, was failed badly and while I’m not going to say anything to cut across the Garda investigation – let that run its course, that’s very, very important – as Taoiseach I’m going to make sure we get to the bottom of this.

“How was this child failed? How could an eight-year-old little boy effectively disappear and that not be noticed?”