The woman who brought a four-year-old girl to Ireland for medical treatment has said she is thrilled at the decision by the Romanian authorities not to force the child to return.

Briege Hughes was given the good news hours after Miheala Porumbaru was taken from Mrs Hughes' home by a Romanian social worker.

Miheala was abandoned at birth and left in a cardboard box outside a hospital in Bucharest.

Mrs Hughes from Dundalk in County Louth hopes to adopt the girl.

She said the authorities in Romania agreed that Miheala could stay.

The little girl was due to return to Romania on Tuesday.

There had been doubts over the fate of the disabled orphan after a mix-up with the child's visa.

She had been sent to the Irish Republic on a holiday visa instead of a medical one.

The girl was brought to Ireland for treatment to a broken back.

She was due to fly home on Monday but failed to board a flight from Belfast.

Spinal injuries

Miheala was abandoned at birth and is paralysed from the waist down.

She was brought to Ireland in July by Mrs Hughes.

Mrs Hughes, who set up an organisation to help Romanian orphans, said she wanted to adopt the child and see if her spinal injuries could be treated by specialists.

She said she understood Miheala was allowed to stay under a medical visa and was shocked when the Romanian authorities told her the orphan must return.

Mrs Hughes said she had feared for Miheala's well-being if she had been forced to go back to her homeland.