Ahern moves to set up missing persons unit based on Amber Alert

FAMILIES of missing people have welcomed moves by the Justice Minister to set up a missing persons unit.

A missing child alert system will be at the centre of the planned unit, which the Garda Inspectorate has been given the task of examining.

The unit will be closely modelled on the Amber Alert missing persons system used in the US, which the parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann have recently campaigned to have introduced in EU countries.