The mother of missing Offaly woman Fiona Pender is being laid to rest in Tullamore today.

The mother of missing woman Fiona Pender has passed away.

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

A witness has come forward to An Garda Síochána, linking the disappearance in 1986 of Dublin schoolboy Philip Cairns, aged 13, with the recently deceased convicted paedophile Eamon Cooke, but gardaí say this has not yet led to positive results.

The Garda cold case unit, which investigates unsolved homicides and high-profile missing person cases, has had its staffing cut by almost 50% in the past two years.

More than 9,000 people were reported missing in Ireland last year alone, and 17 of these cases remain unsolved.

Since last Monday, a specialist search team from the local station, backed up by experts from the Garda Technical Bureau, and from Thursday by a team of sniffer dogs, have been combing the marsh land area, known as Balmers Bog, on the Ardee Road in the Co Louth town.

There were mounting hopes yesterday of a breakthrough in the investigation into the disappearance of Dundalk, Co Louth, teenager Ciara Breen in February 1997 after gardaí arrested a prime suspect for a second time.

A Garda chief has renewed appeals to people with information about the high-profile cases of missing women to end the “living nightmare” of families and come forward.

The search for missing Offally woman Fiona Pender in a County Laois forest has now been called off.

A forensic search is getting underway at a Co Laois wood by Gardaí investigating the disappearance of Fiona Pender.

A search for missing woman Fiona Pender is to begin in County Laois after gardaí revealed there had been a major breakthrough in the case.

Crumbling loyalties could lead to breakthroughs in many of the missing women cases, according to a senior garda who investigated them.

Having suffered poor health, the mother of missing Offaly woman Fiona Pender fears she may die before the remains of her daughter and unborn grandchild are located.

Gardaí are renewing their appeal for information about the whereabouts of Fiona Pender, who went missing over 17 years ago.

A prayer service will take place in Offaly this evening to remember Fiona Pender on the 17th anniversary of her disappearance.

An attempt to have a footbridge over the Grand Canal in Tullamore in Co Offaly named after missing Fiona Pender has been blocked by the local town council.

More than 6,000 people signed a petition in the space of a week calling for a new footbridge to be named after missing Offaly woman Fiona Pender.

It is 20 years this month since 26-year-old American student Annie McCarrick disappeared in the Dublin mountains, apparently the victim of abduction and murder.

The family and friends of missing Offaly woman Fiona Pender will lay a wreath in her memory today.

The Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan has assigned a detective superintendent to investigate the case of missing Co Offaly woman Fiona Pender.

THE relatives of missing Irish people will take part in a pilgrimage to pray for them on Sunday.

THE mother of missing Offaly woman Fiona Pender has spoken candidly about the heartbreak she still feels 14 years after the disappearance of her beloved daughter.

A RENEWED appeal for information was launched over the weekend in relation to missing Offaly woman Fiona Pender.

A week-long search in the Slieve Bloom Mountains as part of the investigation into the disappearance of missing Offaly woman Fiona Pender has proved fruitless.

Gardaí and members of the Defence Forces are continuing to conduct searches in the Slieve Bloom mountains today in the hope of finding the remains of Fiona Pender.

THREE people arrested on Monday in connection with the disappearance of Marie Kilmartin almost 15 years ago have been released without charge.

A search operation is continuing in Co Offaly today for the body of Fiona Pender, who has been missing and presumed dead for the past 12 years.

THE mother of missing Offaly woman Fiona Pender pleaded with her daughter’s killer to give himself up.

Gardaí have mounted a new search for the body of missing Offaly woman Fiona Pender.

Gardaí investigating the disappearance of Fiona Pender almost 12 years ago are due to continue excavations today at an area of woodland in the Slieve Bloom mountains.

Detectives were today scouring mountain woods for the body of a part-time model who vanished almost twelve years ago.

Gardaí investigating the disappearance of Offaly woman Fiona Pender over 11 years ago have begun to search an area on the Laois-Offaly border.

GARDAÍ yesterday appealed for information on missing Fiona Pender on the 11th anniversary of her disappearance.

GARDA Commissioner Noel Conroy has placed unsolved crimes as a major priority in his last year in charge of the force.

A GROUP of cyclists aim to raise awareness of missing persons during a tour of Leinster counties this weekend.

GARDAÍ have dismissed reports that Operation Trace, established to investigate the disappearance of six women, has been abandoned.

A DIRECT appeal went out yesterday to anyone who may be harbouring secrets over the deaths and disappearances of eight women.

On the 10th anniversary of Jo Jo Dullard’s disappearance, her sister believes she knows the identity of her killer and says gardaí have not done enough, writes Cormac O’Keeffe.

GARDAÍ believe a second person was directly involved in disposing of Fiona Sinnott’s body.

Caroline O’Doherty reports on six women whose disappearances are still unsolved.

THE surprise arrest of five people in the long running garda probe into the disappearance of Wexford teenager Fiona Sinnott will reawaken poignant memories of the six women who vanished without trace in one of Ireland’s great unsolved mysteries.