Tragic tot Daniel Aruebose’s mother posted advert in the same year her son died, saying she would pay a minder €600
The Sunday World can reveal that Maria Aruebose placed the advert on the suresitter.com jobsboard four years ago.
In it, she specified potential sitters ‘ideally must be garda vetted’.
The location for the advert posted online was Donabate, where she and Daniel’s father Ciaran Dirrane were living in the Gallery apartment complex.
Daniel Aruebose’s remains were found after a 16-day search
Partial human remains that gardai believe are Daniel’s were found after a 16-day search of an area of scrubland close to his home north Co Dublin.
The notice read: “Looking for a babysitter to mind my child for 1 week while me and my partner are on holiday.”
“We are looking for a child minder to babysitter put [sic] little boy for 1 week while we are away on holiday.
“Ideally must be garda vetted. We also have a little dog that would also need minding. Feel free to message me if interested.”
Maria Aruebose visited the burial site
The notice advertised a rate of €600 and the sitter was required to have a driving licence.
Suresitter is an Irish owned and operated website that it says aims to connect parents with verified and trustworthy child minders.
However, the site also emphasises: “We’re not a babysitting or nanny agency, but a marketplace, with the aim of giving all of us as parents the ability to view, review and make choices about the childcare options available to us.
“We are not a childcare agency. We do not personally meet or vet the caregivers on our platform. We do, however, carry out a number of automated checks and security measures.
“Our aim is to provide parents, like you, with the tools necessary to enable you to quickly and easily source and self-vet childminders, nannies, au pairs, and babysitters.”
Maria Aruebose’s post said she and her partner were going on holiday and needed someone to look after their son
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It’s understood the online activities of Maria Aruebose form a major strand in efforts by gardai to build a picture of what was going on in the lives of both her and her son in the weeks and months leading up to the three-year-old’s death.
The Sunday World revealed last week that due to the degradation of Daniel’s remains, gardai were less than hopeful a post-mortem would reveal his cause of death.
On Tuesday, sources confirmed the findings of the initial examination were inconclusive and that a medical examination of his bones was unable to determine a cause of death.
Addressing the ongoing investigation earlier this week, Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said investigators “still have a way to go” while praising the officers involved in the search operation.
“We will do everything we can,” he said.
“The post-mortem has concluded, the post-mortem has obviously come back.
“They’re with the investigators – they’re looking at those at the moment.
“We’ve obviously many other avenues that we have to go with. We’ve still a way to go with this before we’re able to talk publicly about it, maybe some of those outcomes of that.”
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Daniel’s father Ciaran Dirrane
He also acknowledged the difficult work carried out by garda search teams over the 16-day period in “really tough” conditions.
“I just want to compliment everyone behind all that, that was really tough work for them. And all the investigators that are following down all the various investigative leads.”
The Garda chief was speaking at the Association of Garda Superintendents annual conference in Trim, Co Meath on Wednesday.
The search operation to locate Daniel Aruebose, who was aged around three when he died, began on September 1 after gardai identified an area of open ground as part of their investigation.
Both parents, Marie Aruebose and Daniel’s dad Ciaran Dirrane, who is now resident in Brazil, have been spoken to by investigators and have been cooperating with the inquiry.
Also speaking at the superintendent’s annual conference, Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan commended the gardai involved in recovering Daniel’s remains.
He said that “people out there have information” about what happened to the little boy, and said they have an obligation to provide that information to gardai.
The search site in Donabate
“You’re not allowed to bury bodies of people, even if you had no involvement in the death of the person, you’re not allowed to bury bodies in that haphazard manner and it’s a criminal offence to do so.”
Alongside the ongoing probe to determine the cause of Daniel’s death, gardai are also investigating Daniel’s parents in relation to the secret and illegal burial of the child.
Maria Aruebose is also being investigated for allegedly attempting to draw social welfare entitlements in respect of her deceased son.
However, both of these offences are classified as summary offences, meaning a suspect can only be arrested for the purposes of charge.
Gardai have been told by Daniel’s parents that he died in his sleep.
They claim they panicked and that they brought his body to the wasteland along the Portrane Road where he was secretly buried.
He had been missing for around four years before concerns about his welfare were raised with gardai by Tusla on August 29, after suspicious child benefit claims were flagged by the Department of Social Protection.