More than 500 people turned out for a commemoration walk in memory of missing Co Donegal schoolgirl Mary Boyle today.
The march, organised by local Ballyshannon resident Naomi Brady, saw the public walk from the centre of the town out to the local Garda station.
Once at the station balloons were released in memory of missing Mary who disappeared almost 40 years ago in 1977.
Marchers wore purple and white ribbons in memory of missing Mary who was wearing the same coloured ribbons when she was last seen walking across lands behind her uncle Gerry near Cashelard.
Among those present was missing Mary’s twin sister Ann who has campaigned tirelessly to find out the truth about what really happened to her two sister.
Marchers held placards reading various slogans including ‘Justice for Mary Boyle’ and also ‘Child Killer At Large’ and ‘No More Cover-Up’ and ‘Arrest Killer Now.’
Some in the crowd had come form as far away as Mullingar for the march.
Purple and white ribbons also hung from the front of many shops and even out of a statue of the late rock singer Rory Gallagher in solidarity with the walkers.
Singer Margo, who is related to missing Mary’s late dad Charlie, said she had decided to stay away from the march saying it was the people’s day.
Organiser Ms Brady, a sister of former Lord Mayor of Dublin Cyprian Brady, said she was moved to hold the march after recently seeing a You Tube video entitled ‘Mary Boyle – The Untold Story.’
She told walkers “I was sitting on an armchair having watched the documentary and I was absolutely dumbfounded to think that here we are 40 years later and nothing has moved on.
“I felt that we needed to do something for the family and particular for Ann because there is nothing that anyone would know that would be the amount of pain and suffering and hardship that this family have gone through over the last 40 years.”
She added that some of those at the walk yesterday has searched for Mary in the initial hours after she disappeared.
“We’re all here today with he hope and it is only hope, that Mary Boyle can be brought home. This has to come to an end. We need this child to be brought home and laid to rest,” she said.
One of the many placardes at the Mary Boyle march as it passes through Ballyshannon towards the local Garda Staation. (North West Newspix)
Having walked through the town, the large crowd stopped outside Ballyshannon Garda station.
Purple and white ballons with the number ’40’ on them were then released into the sky by local children attending the walk.
Ms Brady then said that it was positive that the march had finished at Ballyshannon Garda station which she stressed was a new station than the one which was present in the town when Mary vanished in 1977.
She said that corruption needed to end and that Mary needed to be brought home.
“There may be people at home having a cup of tea who knows what really happened to Mary. They need to come forward and let the Gardai know what really happened,” she said.
Some of the large crowd who attended the Mary Boyle march as it passes through Ballyshannon towards the local Garda Staation. (North West Newspix)