A new initiative aimed at getting the public's help quickly when a suspected child abduction has taken place has been launched.
The Child Rescue Ireland Alert scheme was launched by the Garda Commissioner.
The system will use the latest technology to get the message out to the public and to get information back to investigating gardaí as quickly as possible.
A child rescue alert will be issued using social network sites, the media, electronic signs over roads, and on public transport to get the attention of the public quickly.
The message could give the registration number of a car involved and the name, description or photograph of the child.
It may also give the name and a photograph of the suspected abductor, if available.
13 abduction incidents were reported in Ireland last year.
It has been 25 years since 13-year-old school boy Philip Cairns went missing in Dublin's Rathfarnham.
His mother Alice Cairns has said she believes the CRI Alert could help other parents escape the trauma her family endured.
