Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 23 May 2001

Vol. 536 No. 6

Written Answers. - Missing Persons.

Monica Barnes

Question:

67 Mrs. Barnes asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will agree to the funding of a helpline to be run on a voluntary basis to provide counselling and assistance to the relatives of missing persons; the number of persons officially missing; the arrangements within the Garda Síochána to trace missing persons; and if new initiatives are proposed. [14569/01]

Jim Higgins

Question:

110 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he is prepared to establish a missing persons helpline to assist the relatives of those who are missing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14564/01]

Alan Shatter

Question:

203 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will agree to the funding of a helpline to be run on a voluntary basis to provide counselling and assistance to the relatives of missing persons; the number of persons officially missing; the arrangements within the Garda Síochána to trace missing persons; and if any new initiatives are proposed. [15148/01]

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

216 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of persons reported missing in each of the past 12 months; the number of cases which have been satisfactorily resolved in that period; the number outstanding; if any particular attention is being paid to this growing phenomenon; the action he proposes to deal with the issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15326/01]

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

217 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if, in the case of persons reported missing during the past three years, a study has been carried out to ascertain the extent to which the disappearances have been associated with particular locations or premises; if there are other coincidental factors which might be of assistance to their families in their efforts to trace them; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15327/01]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 67, 110, 203, 216 and 217 together.

I fully understand and sympathise with the distress which families must face and live with when a loved one goes missing, and I have spoken in the House on many occasions on this subject. As I have indicated before, the deployment of Garda resources and the investigative methods used in missing persons cases are matters for the Garda Commissioner. I am assured by the Garda authorities that the Garda Síochána does all in its power to locate missing persons and that it provides considerable support to families.

The Garda authorities have informed me that the effectiveness of the working methods and procedures employed in missing persons cases are continually reviewed. As a result, substantial changes were made in 1998, such as the introduction of new guidelines and procedures which place a particular emphasis on keeping the families of missing persons informed by a Garda liaison officer, who deals with a designated family member.

Garda statistics reveal that approximately 99% of those reported missing in any year are accounted for by the end of that year. It must be realised that most of the people who go missing do not do so in suspicious circumstances.

The Garda Síochána operates a website which gives details of certain missing persons. While the funding of a dedicated helpline and counselling services for the families of missing persons are not the kind of services that would normally fall within the responsibilities of my Department, I can appreciate why Deputies would advocate the provision of such services and I have asked my Department to consider how this might be brought about either with my own Department's support or through another State-funded agency. Moreover, I understand that health boards may be in a position to offer appropriate counselling and support services to those members of a declared missing person's family who are identified as being in need of such services. I further understand that the provision of these services is a matter, in the first instance, for each health board, having regard to the needs in individual cases.

Although there have been no studies carried out of the kind referred to by Deputy Durkan, an analysis of statistics has shown that a significant number of persons go missing near the coast in dangerous locations, such as cliffs, or were last seen on boats or trawlers. Some were also last seen at ferryports, which might be taken to suggest that they went missing of their own volition. The figures also conform, to some extent, to the broad picture emerging from research into suicide, where, in the case of males, for example, incidences of "going missing" and male suicide cluster in the early 20s and early 40s.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that the number of persons who were untraced at the end of each year, from 1990 to 1999, the last year for which published figures are available, is as follows:

Year	Number Untraced at Year End
1990	10
1991	11
1992	7
1993	9
1994	12
1995	17
1996	9
Year	Number Untraced at Year End
1997	3
1998	10
1999	16

Finally, with regard to the numbers of persons which the Garda Síochána took to be genuinely missing over the past three years for which statistics are available, the following is the case:

Year	Number of Cases
1997	1,877
1998	2,015
1999	1,800