Schools and sports clubs in the wider area have shared the info
Gardaí (file photo)(Image: Gardaí)
Parents on the southside of Cork City are being asked to have a fresh ‘Stranger Danger’ conversation with their kids after a credible report of two men in a van trying to strike up a conversation with primary school children earlier in the week.
The incident is understood to have happened in the vicinity of a well-known primary school on the southside and an urgent warning has gone out from schools and sports clubs in the Ballintemple/Douglas/Blackrock area for parents to be on their guard, and to remind their children of how best to deal with incidents like this.
Messages shared via Whatsapp networks have put the alert out widely, saying that two boys who were walking home from school were approached by two men in a brown van with a Cork registration. One of the boys was able to alert a parent, who was close by, and that was thankfully the end of the encounter as the van drove off.
Gardai have been notified of the incident. As part of the StaySafe programme – parents can find resources for this here – children in primary school are given age-appropriate information on ‘Stranger Danger’, how to spot it and how to deal with it.
The information on the incident on Thursday in the Ballintemple are is being shared not to alarm families in the wider area, but to remind them of the risks and to ask them to stay vigilant while the Gardai deal with the incident.
CorkBeo has contacted Gardaí for comment.