Gardai have launched a new smartphone app to notify users of Child Rescue Ireland (CRI) alerts. The app was created with the assistance of the Vodafone Ireland Foundation and is available for free on all platforms.

The CRI alert system is used to help find missing children who are deemed to be at risk. It was introduced in 2012.

It has only been activated twice. Most recently in November after missing Roscommon woman Fiona Gregg and her three children were found safe and well.

The CRI alert app will contain details of children at the centre of an appeal and it can also hold secure information on the user's children.

The app uses two strands - a notification for when a CRI Alert is issued, and a space to securely maintain up-to-date information and photos of the children.

It will be updated with information - including photos - of the missing child

The notification section will include details of the child and/or children and any additional information that gardai believe will help.

People who have downloaded the app will be notified each time a CRI alert is updated with the latest information. They will also be able to share these CRI Alert updates on Facebook.

The Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said " I know that the use of social media has an integral and significant role in the effective operation of the CRI Alert, and the App we are launching today is another important component in that system".

The Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan is urging people to download it.