THE FAMILY of missing teenager Amy Fitzpatrick has presented a petition of 20,000 signatures to the EU Commission office in Dublin calling for the introduction of a system that would alert all EU states when children go missing.
The missing teenager's aunt, Christine Kenny, said if a US-style amber alert system was put in place it might lead to child abduction cases being solved when children were being moved across EU borders by their abductors.
She believed the signatures collected in Ireland and across the world reflected support for the introduction of such an alert system. "I would urge parents and grandparents to think what they would do if it was their child missing. There is nothing there for you."
She said her family had heard nothing from Amy since her disappearance in Spain almost seven months ago. However, they were heartened by the fact nothing had emerged to suggest she was dead.
"I'm very hopeful we will find her. There's no evidence [that Amy is dead], no clothing found. There's always hope."
Ms Kenny was speaking at the EU Commission's offices on Dawson St, Dublin, after presenting the petition to officials.
Amy (15) disappeared after leaving a friend's house at about 10pm on January 1st to walk to her home in Riviera del Sol, Mijas. She had been living in Spain with her mother and her mother's partner.
A police search in Spain has failed to uncover any information as to her whereabouts.
Ms Kenny said the alert system would involve the rapid sharing of information, including photographs, about missing children.
This would enable police forces, transport companies and other agencies to be vigilant, particularly in the first two to three days after abduction when a child may be smuggled to another country.
Mary Lou McDonald MEP (SF), who was with Ms Kenny at the petition presentation, said commitments made by EU heads of state to implement an integrated alert system have yet to come to fruition.
"I urge Nicolas Sarkozy to prioritise the delivery of this system during the current French presidency of the union and all EU leaders to support such efforts," she said.
Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern met Amy's mother, Audrey Fitzpatrick, in March to discuss the case. However, Christine Kenny - who is Amy's father's sister - revealed her side of the family was dissatisfied with the response of the Government.
She had sent requests to a number of Ministers seeking meetings but apart from acknowledgments the family had received no response.
A spokesman for Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said he would meet Ms Kenny and other family members to discuss the case.
