Gardai carried out a large-scale search of lands near Stamullen in south Co Meath yesterday after a man accosted two young children as they played in the garden of their home. The eight-year-old girl and her six-year-old brother were said to be very shocked by their experience and were seen by a doctor.
The children had been playing with a skipping rope at about 7 p.m. on Sunday when a man who looked like he had been living rough approached them and began to talk to them.
He forced them to cross a nearby road and go into a field with him.
There he loosely tied the skipping rope around them and left them in a hedgerow before walking off across fields.
A spokesman in Balbriggan Garda station said the children were not assaulted or interfered with but were "petrified".
The parents immediately contacted gardai who are this morning to resume house-to-house inquiries.
"We have carried out a very large scale search of woods and farm land and outhouses for anyone looking rough or a loner. So far it has been negative," said Sgt Eamon Travers.
The children said he had a hat pulled down over his eyes, dark trousers and wore a green and blue pullover.
Gardai between Dublin and the Border have been alerted and Sgt Travers has warned parents to be vigilant.