Where in the world?

In 2004 The Missing Person Association (MPA) recorded that 5,060 people were reported missing in Ireland and 83 of which were never found. With a population just shy of 4 million this is a statistic that is growing alarmingly. Due to this ongoing crisis the MPA have established three categories to help them assist as many people as possible. A Category ‘A’ missing person requires immediate action this person is at high risk, usually someone who has been abducted or a possible suicide threat. A Category ‘B’ missing person may be an individual who has left voluntarily and has notified a family member. A Category ‘C’ missing person is someone who is of absolutely no threat, a person who more than likely just wishes to begin a new life. Sadly not all missing persons in this country disappear willingly; many vanish without a trace and leave behind a heartbroken family desperate to find out what happened to their loved ones.

Philip Cairns had just started at Colaiste Eanna secondary school. On the 23rd of October in 1986 he was walking from his home on Ballyroan Road in Rathfarnham back to school after his lunch break, however he never arrived. To this day no trace of the young teenager has been found, despite countless heartfelt pleas made by the local Gardai and the Cairns Family. It seems that the school boy simply disappeared on this busy and seemingly harmless stretch of road. Even more mysterious was that seven days after his disappearance two teenage girls found his school-bag in a dark, curvy laneway close to his home the had been searched extensively just hours after Mr. and Mrs. Cairns had called the authorities to report their sons disappearance. This can only mean that some one planted the bag in that laneway shortly before the girls came upon it. This person could probably be of great assistance to the Rathfarnham Gardai who investigated Philips case. To this day no answers have been given to Alice Cairns who has lost her eldest son.

Mary Boyle was a pretty and curious six year old girl in 1977 who liked nothing more than to play with her brother and sister. Tragically she is Ireland’s youngest missing person, having vanished in March 18th 1977 near Ballyshannon in Southern Donegal. On that day Mary had been playing with her twin sister and older brother Patrick in the back garden while her parents were in the house preparing dinner. When Mary complained of being bored the other two children were not ready to finish their game and so continued without paying much attention to their sibling. Her parents Charlie and Ann did not see the little girl wander out of the garden. Mary’s uncle and godfather Gerry Gallagher is the last known person to have seen her. At about 3.30 that afternoon he was carrying a ladder back to house of his neighbour. Mary followed him from a distance chatting idly to her uncle. Just before reaching the house Gerry made his way through six inches of mud. Mary hesitated and decided to turn back home. She would never be seen again.
No evidence was ever found to suggest that Mary was abducted. Two theories remain dominant in the case of Mary Boyle. One is that she encountered some marshy bog land that had been an undetected sink-hole, and being less than four foot tall she would not have been able to pull herself back up if she had lost her footing. If Mary had been wearing boots then it is very likely that the little girl would have been walking awkwardly through the marshy land and so if she had fallen over the likely scenario is that she would have become stuck in the mud, if she were to struggle it would have resulted in her becoming further embedded in the reeds and shallow waters. Being such a slight build the little girl could very easily have sunk into the bogland completely unnoticed and sadly her body would never be recovered, although it would remain perfectly preserved. The other, far more sinister theory is that Mary was abducted after she left her uncles company and before she had reached the safety of home. Unfortunately both theories have been entertained for almost thirty years and have shed no light in this tragic mystery.

Without the information and help of the public it has become painstakingly clear to the authorities that many of the missing people of Ireland will remain under that label. The sad truth of the matter is that people like Fiona Sinnot, Jo Jo Dullard and Ciara Breen all remain unsolved mysterious filed away until someone can help unravel, perhaps the last moments of their lives.