Since my election to the House in 1997 I have tabled parliamentary questions on the trauma being suffered by the families of missing persons. While I appreciate the endeavours of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the matter is still not being dealt with adequately.
I ask the Minister to radically reappraise the procedures used to investigate the cases of missing persons. When a person is first reported missing, the response time should be reduced. A plan of action should be put in place involving skilled people. The investigators involved in the case should be experts in the field and use knowledge obtained from other agencies throughout the world so that there is a swift response.
Regarding the six ongoing cases, I accept that Operation Trace was a move in the right direction in terms of filtering information on each case. However, the response has been inadequate. My view is that new full scale investigations of each case are necessary. Each disappearance should be reconstructed. The case of Jo Jo Dollard, a Kilkenny woman who has been missing since 1995, should be used as a pilot in this area. Operation Trace should be extended so that a search can be conducted again from the scene of the last sighting of Jo Jo Dollard.
The necessary funding should be put at the disposal of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to ensure there can be a reconstruction and the operation can start all over again. All the sources of information should be filtered again and all the land from where Jo Jo Dollard disappeared to Kilkenny should be re-examined. New technology which is now available should be used in this case to find a body, if one is buried, and to ensure that every possible avenue is explored.
The families of these missing persons have not been included in investigations. There is deep misunderstanding between the families of the missing persons and the authorities. There is also a feeling that not enough is being done by the Government and the Department to ensure these six cases are investigated thoroughly. The families are not sufficiently involved so that they can feel they are doing something to track the last days of the member of their family who has gone missing.
In all these cases, the State has been remiss in the manner in which the families have been treated. In the case of Jo Jo Dollard, little counselling was offered to the remaining members of the family in terms of how they could cope with the trauma, the feeling of helplessness and the fact that there is no end to their grief. They have no place at which they can mourn because they do not have a body. There is no ongoing communication between the Garda, the Department and Operation Trace. There is a sense that no one really cares.
The recent death of Sean Pender underlines the extent of the trauma felt not only by parents whose children have gone missing but also by their extended family and circle of friends. As a result, there is an onus on the Government to extend Operation Trace, to make it more meaningful and put in place an investigation which does not merely involve the shuffling of paper and which is not just another act of bureaucracy. Operation Trace must represent a definite and tangible attempt to search the final route taken by each of the missing people to whom I refer.
Jo Jo Dollard's family has undergone a never ending trauma. They have searched every day for some trace of Jo Jo since she went missing. The parliamentary questions asked and the answers given do not reflect what is happening. I appeal to the Minister and the Department to take more tangible action and to extend Operation Trace so that it focuses on tracing the final steps taken by those who have gone missing. The Garda should use every piece of technology and information available and remain in constant consultation with the members of families in question in order to discover what happened to the six people to whom I refer.
