Helpline for families and friends of missing people

FAMILIES and friends of the estimated 1,800 people who go missing here every year can now reach for the phone for help and support.

The National Missing Person’s Helpline, provided by Victim Support, was launched in Dublin yesterday by Justice Minister Michael McDowell.

Victim Support chief executive officer Lillian McGovern said the helpline should be seen as an initial step in establishing a full missing person’s service in line with other jurisdictions.

The service is being provided on a pilot basis and funding totalling 65,000 has been provided by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to get it up and running.

Most recent Garda figures indicate that 1,800 people went missing in 2000. By the end of that year, only 22 of those remained missing, with half of them found since then. Research undertaken in Britain indicates that those most likely to be reported missing are girls aged between 13 and 17 and men aged between 24 and 30. Mr

McDowell said the Government saw the support of victims as central in the formation of crime policy.

“For too long the crime victim was marginalised and treated as a mere spectator to the criminal process,” he said. He admitted Ireland still lagged behind other countries in terms of services like this. “We are learning. It is strange that we haven’t got to this stage before now, but (this service) is a very positive step.” He said the helpline will provide invaluable advice and

psychological support for families of missing persons. The lo-call number (1850-442 552) will be manned from Monday to Friday from 10am to 4pm by Victim Support member Tony O’Connell.

An information leaflet has already been prepared, so gardaí can give it to people when they report a missing

person. “We will provide that very necessary listening ear, emotional support and practical information with the help and guidance of the gardaí and other agencies. But we would like to think that by this time next year, having learned what we hope to learn over the year, it will become a stand-alone service,” Ms McGovern said.

Also at the launch was Fr Aquinas Duffy, whose Missing Irish People’s website (www.missing.ws) has received 53,389 hits since it was established in April 2000. Fr Duffy pointed out that official figures showed that over the last 11 years there were 126 untraced people. “The new national helpline is like a dream come through for people like me because it is so urgently needed,” he said.

The priest was one of a group of concerned people, including David Lenihan from Cork, who made their telephone numbers available for people to contact in the absence of the

national helpline.

He agreed that while the internet would continue to play a major role in the area of missing people, it was not possible to substitute the value and significance of human emotional support.