A caravan that was stolen from the family of a young boy with special needs has been recovered by Gardaí.

It comes after mother Fiona Sharkey Carroll appealed for help finding what she described as her son Seáns “little piece of heaven.”

Earlier this week, she told Newstalk Breakfast that lockdown made the caravan especially important for Seán who has autism, is non-verbal and has no vision in one eye.

Returning to the show this morning, she said gardaí called with some good news last night.

“We got a phone-call last night from Portlaoise garda Station to say they have recovered that caravan and it is being looked after by gardaí in Portlaoise,” she said.

Seán in the family caravan. Image: Sharkey Carroll family

She said the call had the whole family in tears.

“We have been so, so looking forward to this call,” she said. “It is amazing, the children are so happy; we haven’t actually got the caravan yet but we will be going to get it over the next day or so.

“We can’t wait to see Seán’s face when he gets into it. His little happy place. His little piece of heaven, his independence has been given back to him and his quality of life. He deserves that so much.”

She said there are no plans for a holiday just yet, but she is delighted it has recovered.

“Our plan is to bring it home and just have a little look at it to make sure that the baby is OK,” she said.

“Campsites are not actually officially open yet until the June 29th and we do go by the Government guidelines having a special needs child – so we have to be very careful.

“But we have it back now and it is safe.”

Ms Sharkey Carroll thanked gardaí and “everybody that has helped us so much” to recover the caravan in recent days.