The family of the woman who has been missing from a Bray nursing home since Christmas Day will hold a memorial ceremony to commemorate her life on February 18th.
Maura Reynolds (78) was last seen at Tara Nursing Home, Putland Road, Bray, Co Wickow, late on Christmas Day after spending the day with her family. A massive land and sea search was launched after her disappearance but she has not yet been found. Gardaí and her family have concluded that she drowned as the nursing home is a short walk from the beach at Bray.
Mrs Reynolds had Alzheimer's disease and severe dementia and would have been unable to walk very far.
Search teams from the Civil Defence, the Garda sub-aqua unit, the dog unit, the air support unit and voluntary groups spent several days looking for Mrs Reynolds.
Det Insp Frank Keenaghan, who led the investigation, said the file remained open, although the search had been scaled down. "We did everything we could on the land side," he said. "We searched and researched as many as four or five times based on the information we received."
The Alzheimer's Society of Ireland had advised gardaí that when sufferers went missing, they were often found within a short distance of their last known location. Her former home at Balally Drive, off the Sandyford Road, was searched several times.
Det Insp Keenaghan said there was always a possibility that Mrs Reynolds may have gone in to the sea and that is where the evidence pointed now that the land searches had been exhausted.
The authorities on the coasts of Scotland, Wales and France have been notified of the disappearance, in the event of a body being discovered.
Mrs Reynolds's friends and relatives have been invited to take part in a memorial service at the Holy Cross church in Dundrum on February 18th.
