‘I can still hear his voice from our last call’
MOTHER OF MISSING TONY APPEALS FOR INFORMATION
THE MOTHER of missing Gusserane man Tony Egan has issued an emotional appeal for any information about his whereabouts, three months after he disappeared.
Tony, 33, went missing the night before he was due to return to his family in Gusserane, in late September from his home in Portarligton, County Laois, where he had been living for the past two years.
Extensive searches took place in Portlaoise for Tony, but yieled nothing.
The son of Nicholas and Bridget Egan of Ballygarvan, Gusserane, Tony has two brothers, Paul and David and two sisters, Roseanne and Elaine. He was working as a volunteer in a charity in Portlaoise up until recently and had planned to return to this work.
His mother Bridget told this newspaper: ‘It’s just terrible, especially with Christmas going on. My head is gone sideways with worry. It’s hell. Tony’s missing three months now but I am holding out hope.’
Bridget said she is baffled by her son’s disappearance.
‘I can still hear his voice from our last phone call. He sounded okay and was talking about getting a take away. I’m appealing to Tony to pick up the phone and say something, anything even if he doesn’t want to come back. Every time my phone rings I look at the number and hope it’s him. If anyone knows any small piece of evidence please call the number. We’re after doing as much as possible but we might go further again and do more searches and put up posters in Cork, Dublin and Galway.’
Bridget paid tribute to the efforts of people from South West Wexford and Laois who joined in the searches for Tony in County Laois.
‘ They searched along by the rivers and nothing came up. He has disappeared. We were on CrimeCall Monday night last week and we’re hoping somebody out there knows something. We miss Tony so much. He’s a very kind, loving person. He would often stay with a friend for Christmas and cook Christmas dinner as he loves to cook.’
She recalled how Tony was very loving when he was small.
‘He loved playing on his bike like all kids used to do. We were very close. He used to say ‘When you’re an old lady, really old, I’ll look after you mammy”. He used to make me laugh all the time.’
Bridget described how she has been searching homeless facilities and putting up posters around Portarlington in the hope that somebody might remember seeing Tony on the day he went missing.
Gardaí have conducted a number of detailed investigations and have been in contact with the Greater London Police as Tony had contacts living in the English capital.
Bridget added: ‘We hope something may trigger something.’
A former pupil of Clongeen NS and Ramsgrange Community School, Tony studied Politics in Maynooth and went on to become a Labour town councillor on Athy Town Council having been co-opted onto the body in 2008.
Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to contact the local station on 057 862 3112 or the confidential line at 1800 666 111 or phone/text 087 4315531.