Police believe eight-year-old Kyran Durnin disappeared two years ago and presume that he is now dead

Ireland’s prime minister has questioned how an eight-year-old boy who may have been killed up to two years ago could have disappeared without being noticed in a case he described as “utterly horrifying”.

Police have taken the unusual step of opening a murder investigation even though no body has been found in the case of Kyran Durnin, who was reported missing along with his mother on 30 August.