The families of the missing people demand a change in the procedure for handling cases

Families of missing people in Ireland will meet the Garda Commissioner on Thursday to demand changes to the way the cases are handled.

The meeting at Garda headquarters with Commissioner Drew Harris came as Garda searches continued on Wednesday as part of the investigation into the murder of missing woman Jo Jo Dallard. The meeting was planned ahead of Monday’s arrest in the case and the exhumation in Bandon last week of unidentified human remains found in a river at Lee Fields in Cork city in 1999.

One of those who met with Commissioner Harris on Thursday, Claire Clark Keane, said the group had a number of issues to raise with him. Her sister Priscilla went missing while riding with her employer Linda Kavanagh in Wicklow in 1988. Ms Cavanagh’s body was recovered from the River Dargle two days later, but Ms Clarke was never found.

Ms Clark Keane said requests from families included:

Crimecall will regularly cover the case of one of Ireland’s unidentified remains in cemeteries or morgues across the country
All unidentified remains are under investigation
Provide information on how many profiles of Irish missing persons and unidentified remains have been added to Interpol files and other international databases
An independent commission will be created specifically to obtain confidential information that could lead to the recovery of the remains of people who have long gone missing.
Regular contact between the Guard and the families of Irish people missing abroad and co-operation with international police forces investigating Irish disappearances

She said the families wanted An Garda Síochána to include statistics on missing persons in the organisation’s annual report, including how many were found in each 12-month period, how many exhumations were carried out and their results.

She added that families also want the Guard to contact them after taking people’s DNA in the hope it will help find their missing loved ones.

“We assume it’s at Forensic Science Ireland, but we don’t know where it’s been sent to – we’re assuming it’s been sent to Interpol, for example. We pass on our DNA, but we have no idea where it is,” she said.

Also among those meeting with Commissioner Harris tomorrow are Michael and Bernie Jacobs and Laura Crawford.

The Jacobs’ 18-year-old daughter Deirdre disappeared in July 1998 in Newbridge, County Kildare. In August 2018, her case was upgraded to a homicide investigation.

The body of John, Ms Crawford’s brother, was found on a beach in Cumbria, north-west England, in 2000, months after he disappeared from his home in Tallaght.

His body was finally identified in 2011 after DNA taken from Mr Crawford’s belongings was passed by the Guard to other police forces. He was buried in a cemetery in Great Britain.