‘Someone always knows something’, says founder of Missing.ie

When someone goes missing there is always someone, somewhere who has information that could end a family’s suffering, according the founder of Ireland’s first missing person’s website.

Aquinas Duffy started Missing.ie 16 years ago after his cousin Aengus Shanahan (20) disappeared.

The new information in the Philip Cairns case "goes to show that even after many years, a person can come forward with a crucial piece of information", he said.

“No one just vanishes into thin air. In all missing person cases someone, somewhere must have information about what happened. Every moment of silence prolongs the suffering of a family,” he said.

Aengus Shanahan was last seen leaving Cooper's Bar on Joseph Street in Limerick at about 11pm on February 11th, 2000.

“The family accepts he is probably not alive, but there is always a longing to know what happened, and to have the remains returned.

"His disappearance has dominated everything, every event. There have been three weddings, his mother died last month, and this is always there. There were appeals for information over the years. Every time you're hoping there might be new information. After every appeal his mother, Nancy, would sit by the phone. Every day she wondered what became of her youngest son."

Anyone with information about Aengus “Gussie” Shanahan should call 061-214340.