Tearful appeal for missing Kerry farmer as some of his cattle sold

Defence Forces personnel and gardaí search missing Kerry farmer Michael Gaine's land.  Picture: Dan Linehan

An auctioneer broke down in tears as he appealed for information about missing Co Kerry farmer Michael Gaine moments before cattle belonging to Mr Gaine were sold at auction.

Kerry County councillor Dan McCarthy appealed for anybody with information, "no matter how small", to give it to gardaí.

Eight animals were among lots at the weanling and general cattle sale at Kenmare Mart's auction.

They sold in two lots: Two in one and six in another.

The first two lots of Mr Gaine's cattle sale made €11,900.

Mr McCarthy, who is a neighbour of Mr Gaine, said: "This day two weeks ago, an awful tragedy happened in this community.

"Our farming community colleague, Mike Gaine, (went) missing. There has been no trace or sighting of him for the last two weeks.

"The family have asked me today to thank each and every last one of you that have helped in any way to search for Mike and to bring Mike back to his family." 

Mr McCarthy said everyone is upset and hurting, "because the farming community is a very small community".

"I'm making an appeal to everyone that's out there to help us to find Mike and bring him back to his family," he said. "I'm asking, and I appeal to everyone, wherever he is, he is somewhere in Ireland. Please let the gardaí know. We will keep looking, because someone knows something about what happened to Mike. Maybe someone (saw) something: No matter how small, please let gardaí know." 

Shortly after the 56-year-old disappeared, half of his herd of 30 or so animals were taken away to be cared for by a long-standing friend of the Gaine family.

Mr Gaine's estimated 300 or so sheep are still on his 1,000-acre farmlands around Moll's Gap and Ladies' View, along sections of the Ring of Kerry between Kenmare and Killarney.

The Defence Forces are the latest state body to be brought in to search for Mr Gaine, who has not been seen since he bought a sandwich roll in a local Centra on March 20.

An in-store camera filmed him wearing a distinctive orange woolly hat, black fleece, blue jeans and black boots.

While there, he also bought credit for his phone and a bottle of juice.

His last words to staff were: "I'll see you later."

A short while afterwards, he walked out of the car park, got into his wife Janice's nine-year-old bronze Toyota RAV4 and drove onto the Killarney Road towards Moll's Gap.

He is understood to have driven past the house he shared with Janice, in Carhoomeengar East, 3km from Kenmare, before heading straight to his family's old farmhouse, less than a kilometre from Moll's Gap, along the Ring of Kerry route and has not been seen since.

Detectives still want to speak to anybody who travelled on the N71 on Thursday, March 20, after 9.48am and who may also have dash-cam or CCTV footage from Thursday, March 20, and Friday, March 21, in the Kenmare town and Moll's Gap (N71/ R568) area.