‘Ciara is still all alone out there’
THE mum of missing Dundalk teenager Ciara Breen has pleaded for anyone with information about her daughter’s disappearance after Gardai told her the man who was the chief suspect had died suddenly.
Bernadette Breen told RTÉ’s Prime Time that she was ‘numb’ after she was told that the suspect had passed away, but she remains convinced that there still are ‘people out there who know’ where her daughter, who went missing on February 13 1997, is buried and urged them to come forward.
A number of witnesses had claimed she had sneaked out of her house to meet the then 34 year old man, but he always denied all knowledge of her whereabouts.
He was first arrested in 1999 and again 2015, but no charges were ever brought. Bernadette said she had asked him many times to reveal what he knew about Ciara’s whereabouts.
She said: ‘I begged him in every way I could, to say what he know. And even if he didn’t confess, just to leave word with a priest. To say where she was. That’s gone.
‘I didn’t know how to feel. The next minute I wanted to shout, I wanted to hit something hard. Now at the minute I have calmed down. Believe it or not I prayed for the person involved.
There’s only one person there’.
When asked if the answers about Ciara’s disappearance could lie elsewhere, Bernadette said she was sure that all roads led back to this suspect.
‘Gardaí have put other people as they put it, in the centre of the maze, but no matter what way, what route they took, when they got back to the centre there is only one person there’.
Two years ago, Gardaí started a major search at Balmer’s Bog off the Ardee Road in Dundalk, which were mounted following two anonymous letters sent with relevant information to the case.
Although no trace of Ciara was found, Bernadette is convinced that there are people who may know where her daughter is buried.
She said: ‘ They have given enough information that led Gardaí to the bog, for the dig. They have to know a little bit more. Ciara has been lying out there on her own for 20 years.
‘I know she is with God, I have strong faith, but I’m a mother. To me she is on her own. She has no-one to come to talk to her, she has no-one to lay a flower.
‘She has no-one to cry at a graveside or anywhere else. That’s why I’m hopeful that you will allow her to come home. To the people that love her. And that’s why I’m thanking you in advance, and why I know that you will come forward’.
Anyone with information can contact Gardai at 042 9335577.