The 35-year-old married mother of one has not been seen since she left the Woodlands Hotel at Dunmore East Road, Waterford, a week ago today. She was due to return to her home close by in Ballinakill Downs on the southeastern side of Waterford city.

The missing woman is a secretary with nearby construction firm Meadow Court Homes. Gardai launched a missing persons alert for her after her colleagues reported that she had failed to turn up for work last Monday morning.

Her silver Mitsubishi Carisma was recovered two days later in a car park at the Beach House in Ardkeen, around two miles from her home.

Gardai reportedly found what appeared to be a bloodstained item, understood to be a piece of floor mat, near the vehicle. The car and items in the vicinity where it was found were rushed to Dublin for analysis, but results of these examinations by the garda forensics unit may not be released for operational reasons, it is believed.

While gardai continue to treat the case formally as a missing persons probe, they are concerned that there has not been any sighting of the missing woman in the past seven days, while the discovery of the blood-stained item is also regarded as worrying.

Speaking to the media last week, superintendent Dave Sheehan of Waterford garda station said the woman's disappearance was "out of character for her". He said she had never gone away for a prolonged period without telling friends where she was going and when she would be back.

Sheehan said gardai want to talk to anyone who might have any information as to how the woman's car came to be in the car park between Sunday and Wednesday morning.

The blood-stained item was discovered by gardai later on Wednesday morning in a field adjoining the car park. Over three dozen gardai searched the area around the car and the adjoining fields on Wednesday and Thursday after the vehicle was discovered. However, they did not find any other items of significance.

Meg Walsh is described as having "an outgoing, bubbly personality." She is 1.6 metres in height, weighs around 57 kilograms, and has shoulderlength blonde hair. When last seen, she was wearing brown jeans, a brown V-neck jumper and brown boots. She has a 17year-old daughter from a previous relationship.