A young girl is being treated for serious injuries after an attack on a house in County Cork.
An Garda Síochána is appealing for witnesses following criminal damage and assault at the house in Charleville at around 11.30pm on Monday night.
Gardaí were alerted to a disturbance at a residence and found "considerable criminal damage to a vehicle and house".
A child was transferred from the scene by ambulance to Cork University Hospital.
She has since been taken to Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street in Dublin in what is described as "a serious but stable condition."
Irish Independent Southern Correspondent Ralph Riegel told Newstalk Breakfast several men were involved.
"At about 11.30pm on Monday a group of men, believed to be up to five men, arrived at a property on the New Line in Charleville," he said.
"A car parked outside was vandalised and then it appears that this group of men attempted to smash their way into the property.
"There was an adult female inside the property with a number of children and during this attempted smash-in to the house a young girl of 12-years-old suffered a serious head injury.
"It appears that an object was thrown through the window or door of the property and it may have struck this girl in the head."
Mr Riegel said the group of men then fled the scene on foot before leaving in a waiting vehicle.
The girl has since undergone emergency surgery.
'Not the intended targets'
Mr Riegel said Gardaí are keeping an open mind with the investigation.
"They are certainly looking at the fact that this may be linked to other incidents," he said.
"It appears to have been a very deliberate attack on this property, however the girl and adult female in the property were not the intended targets.
"It's understood there was another individual who was not in the area at the time [who] appears to have been the person that this group of men were looking for".
The scene of the incident was preserved and a technical examination has since been conducted by the Divisional Scenes of Crime Unit.
Gardaí are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed this incident or who may have been in the vicinity of the New Line in Charleville town on Monday between 10.30pm and 12.00am midnight to come forward.
Anyone with camera footage, including dash-cam footage from the area at the time, is encouraged to provide it to investigating Gardaí.
