Mr Michael Deely last spoke to his youngest son, Trevor (23), a year ago this evening.
Although one of the largest searches embarked upon in the history of the State has resulted in neither a sighting of the young Kildare man nor a scrap of clothing that might indicate what happened to him, Trevor Deely's family are convinced he is still alive.
The past year, however, has been "an absolute nightmare", Mr Deely said yesterday. The family still believes "very strongly" that "Trevor is OK and that he will return to us safely".
They are renewing their campaign for any information about Trevor. There will be further leafleting over coming weeks and Mr Deely has asked people to remain vigilant. "It's just possible there's a new person at work, a new person in the locality - it could be Trevor. He's a fine 23-year-old fella just starting out in life."
Trevor was last seen in the early hours of December 8th last year, following his office Christmas party the previous night.
He worked in the IT section of Bank of Ireland's asset management team and had been promoted already in his 18 months there. He was in "tremendous form" when his dad spoke to him a few hours before the party. "I was stuck in traffic and I just rang him. He was excited about the party. That was his natural form, to be in good form, high spirited."
He attended the party and left Buck Whaley's night club on Leeson Street after 3 a.m. On his way home he dropped into the offices at Bank of Ireland on Leeson Street, where he checked his e-mail and chatted with a colleague on night duty. He left the offices at about 3.40 a.m., picking up a large blue umbrella with an ACC logo on it.
It was a very stormy night, the last night of the taxi strike. The last sighting is recorded at 4.14 a.m. on a CCTV camera at the corner of Baggot Street and Haddington Road. He turned left towards Haddington Road, going to his apartment at Serpentine Avenue in Sandymount.
"A number of people who were on the video at the time have come forward to the Garda," Mr Deely says, "but none of them saw him; none of them heard anything. It's just an absolute mystery as to what happened to him from there."
According to a garda working on the case, there are no new leads. "The case had huge Garda input," he says, "but to be honest, we are the same point we were 12 months ago. If anything new does come in, we will of course follow it up thoroughly."
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Garda at Harcourt Terrace (01) 666 9500.
