A day care centre for people with intellectual disabilities has apologised after leaving a young man behind on a swimming trip.

The young man, who has Down syndrome, was found wandering alone close to a dual carriageway in West Dublin.

Stewarts Care, one of the country's largest care facilities for people with intellectual disabilities, has apologised over the incident.

The facility is partly run by volunteers.

At the start of this month, a group were taken swimming at a pool on its large campus in Palmerstown.

When they got back to their day centre, staff realised a young man with Down syndrome was missing.

He was then found alone at the side of the N4, a near-by dual carriageway.

Stewarts has admitted that it "clearly didn't meet its own standards of care" - and described the incident as "distressing and unacceptable."

It notified senior management and the HSE straight away, and launched a detailed independent investigation.

The organisation said it is determined to make sure something like this never happens again.

It has apologised unreservedly to the young man and his family - but said it recognises that it has not yet provided a satisfactory explanation regarding the incident.

Reporting from Georgie Crawford