March to highlight 40-year disappearance of Mary Boyle
Hundreds of people from Ballyshannon have already expressed an interest in attending the event, which has been organised by local resident Naomi Brady.
Ms Brady, herself a twin and a mother of twins, said she was touched into taking a stand on Mary’s case after viewing a YouTube video on the Donegal child’s disappearance in Cashelard in 1977.
“As a twin and a mother of twins, I was touched by the programme and how Mary’s twin sister, Ann, and her family must have suffered down through the years.
“I am hoping this march will spark someone into doing the right thing now. Like a lot of people I think that someone must know what happened to Mary.
“I am hoping that after all this time someone who knows something can find it in their heart to come forward and to give the Boyle family some closure.
“Hopefully, it will also lead to Mary’s remains being found and she can be given a Christian burial,” she said.
The march, which will start at 2pm this Saturday, will leave the Abbey Centre before walking to the local Garda station where a few words will be said.
Asked why the march was finishing at the local Garda station, Ms Brady said: “It’s where the search for Mary Boyle ended.” She stressed the march would be a peaceful one and is non-political.
She asked anyone who is planning to attend the march to wear purple and white ribbons in honour of Mary, who was understood to be wearing similar ribbons when she disappeared on March 18, 1977, aged just six.
Ms Brady, who is originally from Dublin but who has been resident in Ballyshannon for four years, said she was probably in a better position to call for such a march than local people.
“I think because I have no connections with the area that I was probably in a better position to suggest such a march,” she said, adding she hoped it led “in some small way” to closure for the family.
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