Vol. 498 No. 5
184 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on the ideas expressed by women in media and entertainment in relation to the establishment of a missing persons' unit and other support for those affected by women gone missing. [27931/98]
As the Deputy is aware, I have taken a particular interest in relation to the issue of missing persons, and I am doing all I can to ensure that the Garda Síochána has effective arrangements in place and the necessary resources to trace those who are reported missing.
With regard to the setting up of a missing persons unit, the Garda Commissioner recently decided to appoint a group with overall responsibility to review a specific number of these complex cases. The group consists of an assistant commissioner, one superintendent, one inspector, two deceptive sergeants and two detective gardaí, and is based at Naas Garda station.
The group has been set up to specifically re-examine a number of the original investigations of cases of missing women. None of the officers involved in this work will be reviewing cases on which they worked previously. They are all members of the Garda Síochána and have all the legal and investigative powers which that entails. The group has recently launched Operation Trace, a programme aimed at developing profiles of men who have shown serious sexual violence against women.
