Death of Ciara Breen’s mother Bernadette
BERNADETTE Breen, the heartbroken mother of Dundalk teenager Ciara Breen, who went missing from her home in 1997, has died without her daughter’s remains being recovered.
Ciara was just seventeen when she disappeared after leaving the Bachelors’ Walk house she shared her mother in February 2017, and Bernadette made renewed appeals over the years for anyone with any information about what happened to her only child to come forward.
Last year Bernadette, who had moved to St Mary’s Road, appeared on RTE’s Prime Time where she said that she believed ‘ there are people out there who know’ where her daughter was buried and urged them to come forward. She had also revealed her heart break at not knowing where her daughter’s body lay and her devastation when the chief suspect died in garda custody without disclosing what he had done to her daughter.
Bernadette was a member of a well known Dundalk family and is survived by her brothers Patrick, James and Niall, sister Cyprienne, brother-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, relatives and friends. She had worked in P J Carrolls in her youth and more recently with Dundalk FM.
Among those who paid tribute to her were retired Detective Inspector Pat Marry who spoke at his regret at not being able to recover Ciara’s body.
Bernadette passed away in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda on Thursday. Her funeral took place on Saturday after Mass in St. Joseph’s Redemptorist Church.