Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has slammed people spreading rumours and misinformation about the disappearance of Kyran Durnin online. 

The eight-year-old schoolboy from County Louth was reported missing about seven weeks ago - but Gardaí now believe he was last seen over two years ago.

Commissioner Harris said people coming up with “their own theories” online isn’t helpful.

“The difficulty around the rumours on social media is exactly that – it’s that people have come up with their own theory,” he said.

“[They’re] not really based on the reality of the situation as we understand it at this time, so that’s a distraction.”

Aerial image shows Gardaí carrying out searches at the garden of Kyran Durnin’s former family home in Dundalk, 22-10-2024. Image: Alamy

The last sighting of Kyran was in Dundalk at the end of the school year in 2022 and Gardaí have said the boy is presumed to be dead.

A search of the former Durnin home in Dundalk and a wasteland behind the home were stood down in late October, with Gardaí finding “no significant evidence”.

Meanwhile, it is believed that the investigating team have identified another location in County Louth that they plan to search in the near future.

Split image: L, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, R, Kyran Durnin.