Gardaí have issued a renewed appeal for information that could help locate missing sheep farmer Michael Gaine, three weeks on from his disappearance.
Speaking to media outside Kenmare Garda station on Friday, Supt Dave Callaghan said the ongoing search effort had been comprehensive but investigators remained on the hunt for any new information.
“Over the past three weeks, An Garda Síochána has carried out extensive searches and inquiries co-ordinated from an incident room at Killarney Garda station,” he said.
“To date, An Garda Síochána has undertaken nearly 230 formal jobs or enquiries, taken nearly 100 witness statements and recovered approximately 1,500 hours of CCTV and dashcam footage.”
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He emphasised that the investigation would remain “ongoing and active” into early next week at least, and said gardaí could not rule out the possibility that Mr Gaine was still alive.
“This is a missing person’s investigation, so I would appeal that if he is alive that he would contact someone or that if anyone knows that he is alive or knows his whereabouts, to make contact with An Garda Síochána.”
Callaghan said he wanted to appeal to anyone who may think the information they have is too trivial to be relevant to the investigation.
“While they may think it’s insignificant, it may be significant to us,” he said. “I would appeal to those people who haven’t contacted the incident room in Killarney Garda station to date, I would urge them to come forward”.
He acknowledged that several items were discovered on Mr Gaine’s land in the last week, but wouldn’t say whether gardaí had established whether there was any link between the finding – reported to be several weapons, food and clothing – and Mr Gaine’s disappearance.
Mr Gaine was last seen on Thursday, March 20th in the Centra on the outskirts of the Kerry town, buying phone credit. He was wearing an orange woolly hat, a black fleece, blue jeans and black boots.
Personnel from the Defence Forces have been searching the mountainous farmland and its surrounds for the last 10 days, the latest phase in the multi-agency search effort, which began on March 21st.
Early stages of the search encompassed the Gardaí, Kerry Mountain Rescue, Civil Defence and Kerry Fire Service, among other groups.
Hundreds of volunteers from the local area also combed the rough terrain in the early stages of the search, although gardaí are no longer requesting the public’s assistance in the effort to locate the 56-year-old.
Mr Gaine was a popular, well-known face in the tight-knit town, mingling within farming circles and beyond. His friends and those close to him have described his disappearance as “a complete mystery”, and say they are “deeply concerned” for his wellbeing.
