A Christmas vigil in memory of missing Mary Boyle will be held this Saturday at 12pm at the gate of the Gallagher farm in Cashelard, Ballyshannon, where she was last seen.
A number of local campaigners have organised the event and are encouraging people to attend in honour of the little girl who disappeared 40 years ago.
Members of the public are asked to bring candles.
The campaign to find out exactly what happened to little Mary gathered momentum this year culminating in a major march through Ballyshannon which was attended by more than a thousand people.
The Gallagher farm is located off the main Ballyshannon to Donegal road following the signs for Cashelard, turning right for Columcille Lough, and continuing straight until you reach a series of farm buildings on the right.
Organisers have requested a large turnout on the day and hope the people of Donegal will support the event.
Meanwhile Monaghan County Council has backed a motion supporting a Donegal group in their guest for answers surrounding Mary’s disappearance.
The motion was raised by Cllr. Colm Carthy on Monday last at a meeting of Monaghan County Council.
The following is the motion put down by Cllr Carthy.
Monaghan County Council supports the campaign of ‘Donegal Families for Justice’ in their quest for answers surrounding the disappearance of Mary Boyle in 1977:
* We call on the coroner to carry out an immediate inquest
* We ask that this inquest should be followed by a commission of inquiry/investigation into the case
* We call on the Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald TD and the Minister for Children Katherine Zappone TD to use all mechanisms of the state to bring this case to an end and give closure to Mary’s family as we enter the 40th anniversary of her disappearance and
* We ask that this motion be sent to all other County and City councils throughout the state for their support.
Mary Boyle went missing in 1977 – she was 6 years old. Hers is the longest missing child case in the state – coming up to 40 years.
Her twin sister, Ann (Doherty) has been campaigning for the state to get answers into her sisters disappearance for years and has been left in the dark.
At the time of the disappearance, a suspect was questioned who was the last person known to have seen her alive and during his questioning he had changed his story a couple of times leading the investigators in the case to suspect that he knew something he was not telling them. However, the gardaí investigating the disappearance were told to stop their line of investigating this man because a politician contacted senior gardaí and asked them to leave this individual alone. The investigation was originally held up for hours because this individual didn’t tell the gardaí he was the last to see her alive.
Ann Doherty has brought this case to the EU Parliament and to the American Senate. She has also met with ministers for justice and with the Taoiseach and is still being told that the matter is being reviewed – this is going on since 2011.
There has been no inquest into the death of Mary Boyle because her body was never recovered – but the fact that she has been missing for almost 40 years should dictate that she should be declared deceased. The coroner refuses to do this. The minister for EU Affairs, Dara Murphy TD, has confirmed that the minister can only direct an inquest into Mary Boyles case if the coroner believes that it would be appropriate – in this case the coroner has not agreed to this.
This motion calls on the coroner to carry out an immediate inquest into Mary’s death which will lead to a commission of inquiry/investigation into the death.
In a time where corruption is being tackled and the public will no longer idly stay silent, we need to help the Donegal Families for Justice campaign find closure for Ann Doherty and the Boyle family.
Mary has been gone now for almost 40 years – the time for hope of recovery has long since left the Boyle family but there are answers out there and a proper investigation needs to be started. Some of those who were involved in the investigation at the beginning have since passed away – speed is of the essence, otherwise, those who know what happened or who can help in the investigation will be gone and Mary will have no peaceful rest.
Margo O’Donnell has championed this cause for years and has to be commended for all the effort she has put in but she has hit a brick wall and the political will needs to take a lead on this. Mary Boyle ‘the little girl with the golden hair and the beautiful face’ needs us to help her family find closure. I ask you all to unanimously support this motion.”
Tags: