Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail)

I recently received a poignant letter from a gentleman who was anxious to see greater activity on the issue of missing persons. He writes about his sister, Ellen, who went missing nearly ten years ago and describes how his life ended and the torture he endures as a result of this event. He wants to raise the level of our awareness of families who are living in hell because loved ones have gone missing. I raised this issue almost ten years ago and have raised it on several occasions since. I am certain there have been improvements, but if one walks through any town or city, one will see flyers that families have posted on lamp posts in the hope of jogging somebody's memory of a young boy or girl who has gone missing. My correspondent has asked that the issue of establishing an international designated telephone service, currently operating in only 11 countries, be taken up by Senators and Deputies in order to make the service available in Ireland. Other Senators who received the same letter will share my view that the correspondent was not seeking something for himself - he has lost hope of seeing his sister again - but was making a case on behalf of other people in a similar position, of whom there are hundreds, if not thousands. I ask the Leader to raise this matter with the appropriate Minister to enable Senators to respond to the gentleman in question and offer him some consolation that, having gone to the trouble of corresponding with us, he has not been ignored and the House pursued the matter to the best of its ability.