A fresh team of investigators has been sent in to examine the disappearance of an 18-year-old Louth girl who has not been seen since February 12th, 1997.
Gardai say that with each passing day their concern increases for the safety of Ciara Breen, Bachelor's Walk, Dundalk. Her mother, a single parent, says she believes someone knows what happened to her only daughter and is appealing for them to come forward.
"There is definitely somebody in this town who knows who Ciara went out to meet that night. Ciara would not be able to keep it to herself, and if they have any humanity they will come forward. They are not helping her or themselves because if anything happens to her they will be partly responsible," said Ms Bernadette Breen.
Ms Breen believes Ciara is still alive. She says her daughter was a determined girl looking forward to her 18th birthday which was just a few weeks away when she vanished. Ciara had said good night to her mother and told her she loved her when she slipped out of their home some time in the late evening. She left the catch undone on a large front window, and Ms Breen believes she intended to come back and was only going out for a short time.
She did not take any clothes, money or a passport. She had just had a number of front teeth extracted and was due to have them replaced within a few days. There are no signs that Ciara had planned to leave home for even a short period.
Gardai have never stopped investigating the matter, and Ms Breen is grateful for their ongoing work and support.
However, earlier this year an Assistant Garda Commissioner, Mr Tony Hickey, decided to put a new team of gardai on the case, and it has just begun the task of re-examining every aspect of the case.
"We are reviewing the entire case, going back to see if any angle can be developed, something perhaps overlooked, maybe some people still to talk to. We are covering the ground again in the hope that something will turn up; there may be something people forgot to tell us the last time," said Supt Michael Staunton, of Dundalk.
Gardai have visited numerous towns in Northern Ireland after reported sightings of the teenager. However, nothing has been found to indicate foul play in her disappearance.
The review will include re-interviewing people including Ciara's family and her friends from school and the local Youthreach project. She was just three weeks into her Youthreach course when she vanished.
"She was very quiet, seemed to be very reserved, a very nice girl. She didn't seem to have a close friend within the workshops," said Mr Aidan Gaughren, one of the co-ordinators of the project. He, like her mother and the gardai, finds it "amazing she did not contact her mother. She seemed very close to her. It is very unfortunate.".
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Garda at 042-35577 or her mother at home.