Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This Saturday, 13 July, will mark the fourth anniversary of the disappearance in Portugal of Jean Tighe. Jean is a member of a very highly regarded family who have been friends of mine over many years. Very understandably, Jean's loving family are distraught and have been at their wits' end over her disappearance. Those concerns are shared by their many friends in the community in Cavan and neighbouring areas.

To put it mildly, the investigation into Jean's disappearance has been totally inadequate. It is simply just not good enough. I have been raising this very important issue constantly with the Tánaiste and with the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Justice. As Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar raised the case directly with his Portuguese counterpart. The Tighe family has got no response whatsoever as to why the Portuguese police authorities did not use modern investigative and search tools to trace Jean. Has there been any response to Deputy Varadkar's questions to the Portuguese authorities, which I hope focused on the importance of accessing Jean's entire digital footprint and DNA screening? The family is very patiently awaiting results but sadly they have had no substantive updates from any authorities. The Government and our authorities must be robust and demanding in their ongoing contact with the Portuguese authorities to get an update on what has been done and what has not.

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