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Aoife Phelan, who is missing from Portlaoise Family handout

Gardaí appeal for information on missing Aoife Phelan

Aoife was last seen six days ago and family say her disappearance is completely out of character.

Updated 10.05am

GARDAÍ ARE CONTINUING to appeal for information about Aoife Phelan, who has not been seen since she left a friend’s house in Portlaoise on Thursday night, 25 October.

Aoife, who is 30 and, says RTÉ, believed to be four months pregnant, was last seen on Thursday night on Colliers Lane in Portlaoise at about 8.10pm. Her sister Leanne spoke to TheJournal.ie two days later and said the disappearance is completely out of character.

Aoife, who is a native of Cashel, Ballyroan, Portlaoise, met a friend at the Borris Road Roundabout in Portlaoise at about 6.30pm on 25 October and was last seen at 8.10pm when she left a friend’s house at Colliers View, Portlaoise.  She was employed as a live in au pair at The Hermitage, Portlaoise and was in work until 6.15pm on that evening.

She is described as being approximately 5’7’’ in height, slim build, has long blonde/sandy coloured hair and blue eyes. When last seen she was wearing stone washed/light coloured jeans and a knitted jumper. She was also wearing a red sleeveless jacket with a fur trimmed hood and black boots. She may have been wearing a silver necklace and a watch with a black strap.

The Phelan family, who live in Ballyroan, believe Aoife had arranged to get a lift from Portlaoise on Thursday. Her phone was traced to the Mountmellick area but it has been turned off since about 9pm Thursday.

Speaking on Newstalk today, Joe Barrett of the Laois Nationalist said that there had been a huge Facebook and Twitter campaign following her disappearance.

Aoife works as a nanny for a family and when she didn’t turn up for work on Friday morning, her family were contacted, Barrett explained.

The Collier’s Lane area (Google Street View)

Anyone with any information about Aoife has been asked to contact Portlaoise garda station on 057 8674100, the Garda confidential line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.

Read: Appeals for Laois woman missing since Thursday>

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5 Comments
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    Mute Monkey Boy
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    Sep 19th 2013, 6:34 PM

    If a pre school is short 1 plaster in a box of 10,thats an automatic fail in 1st aid compliance on the report,the current report will just say 1st aid fail,it does say its because its short of a plaster. Thats hardly fair,i hope the new reports actuly report the proper issues discovered in pre schools that are not up to proper standards. Will the new laws assist the low paid staff with proper working hours,pay and entitlements ??

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    Mute Poppy
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    Sep 19th 2013, 7:20 PM

    Couldn’t agree more. I personally know of a case where the preschool inspector complained there were too many varieties of plasters & dressings. All the new regulations will not prevent nasty people who don’t like children been mean to them like we saw on the Prime Time programme.

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    Mute chalk8down
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    Sep 19th 2013, 6:40 PM

    New legislation is all well & good. Maintaining appropriate carer:child ratios, training staff properly & paying them a credible wage is more paramount, imo…

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    Mute CAM
    Favourite CAM
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    Sep 19th 2013, 6:45 PM

    Perhaps some regulation for childminders too, who look after children in their own home. I have come across many wonderful childminders who treat the children they look after impeccably, however they are not all the same. This is a largely unregulated area and I feel there should be some sort of inspections/reports similar to the UK.

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    Mute David Taylor
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    Sep 19th 2013, 7:40 PM

    No one cares for a
    Child better that his or her parent but unfortunately during the credit tiger we lost the run of ourselves and required 2
    Parents working to support ridiculous mortgages and the introduction of the chain crèche with high running costs etc
    The whole country needs an overhaul not just childcare and plenty of crèche’s who pay staff fairly and treat children well they are just harder to find because the pull of the larger crèche with the so called reputation is a greater pull ….inspectors need to inspect what’s really important not tick a flip board actually sit in the crèche for few days to observe properly

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    Mute Sheelagh Reid
    Favourite Sheelagh Reid
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    Sep 19th 2013, 7:55 PM

    Creche or preschool?

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