GARDAÍ HAVE issued an appeal for assistance to help them trace the whereabouts of a 21-year-old pharmacy student who has been missing since the early hours of Thursday morning.
Alan Houston, originally from Letterkenny in Co Donegal, was last seen by his friends on the junction of Pearse and Lombard Street in Dublin at around 12.30am following a night out.
Mr Houston, who lives in an apartment on Charlotte Quay Dock, got out of a taxi at the Lombard Pub, opposite Pearse Street Dart station, to walk to the nearby apartment.
Gardaí have secured CCTV footage which shows Mr Houston going into the Maxol petrol station on Ringsend Road at around 1am. He has not been seen since.
Family or friends have been unable to contact the “very reliable” third-year Trinity College student and concerns increased when he failed to attend his college lectures and a social event he was known to be looking forward to.
“It’s very unlike him not to keep in touch,” a family friend said.
“He’s a really likeable and friendly character and we really can’t figure out what has happened to him,” she added.
Mr Houston is described as being 6ft 2in in height and of slender build, with red hair and blue eyes.
He was clean shaven, speaks with a noticeable Donegal accent and he was wearing jeans, a green T-shirt, a black duffel overcoat and “Vans” runners when he was last seen.
A large group of Mr Houston’s college friends and classmates carried out a search in the city yesterday and this continued last night. Hundreds of posters of the missing man have also been distributed across Dublin.
Anyone with information regarding his disappearance has been asked to contact gardaí at Pearse Street on (01) 6669000 or the Garda confidential line on 1800-666-111.
