Hundreds of people yesterday took part in what gardaí described as the biggest search operation for a missing person ever mounted in the southeast.
Margaret (Meg) Walsh (35) from Waterford has not been seen for 12 days. Supt Dave Sheahan, leading the investigation into her disappearance, said last night his "optimism for finding Meg alive had waned considerably" and that both gardaí and her family were "gravely concerned".
Ms Walsh is married and has a 17-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.
Supt Sheahan said Ms Walsh had returned to her home in Ballinakill Downs in Waterford from a nearby hotel in the early hours of October 1st and had not been seen since.
Ms Walsh's car was found in a carpark close to the Uluru bar and restaurant on the southern outskirts of Waterford city on October 4th. Gardaí last night released a picture of the car, a silver Mitsubishi Carisma (registration 01 W 2060) and asked anyone who saw the car to contact them.
They also want owners of Mitsubishi Carisma cars who may have parked in the Uluru carpark at any time from October 1st to October 4th to contact them.
Ms Walsh's car has been sent to Dublin for technical examination, and gardaí confirmed yesterday that a second car had also been sent to Dublin for examination.
Insp Chris Delaney of Waterford Garda station said up to 370 people were involved in yesterday's search. He was speaking outside the Woodlands Hotel where Ms Walsh spent the evening before her disappearance and which is now the headquarters for the search operation.
A colour photograph of Ms Walsh and a request for information regarding her whereabouts hang at the hotel entrance.
In addition to gardaí from five counties, 72 volunteers from the Civil Defence, the Irish Red Cross and the Irish Mountain Rescue Association assisted in the search yesterday.
The Army's presence at the scene doubled in size as Comdt Eric Larkin led two platoons from the James Stephens barracks in Kilkenny who were "drafted in to search the more inaccessible areas". Garda and volunteer divers continued to search the River Suir.
The area being searched has widened considerably and yesterday extended to the fishing village of Dunmore East south of Waterford city. Teams fanned out along the road searching ditches and the fields behind. Insp Delaney said the search was made easier by the good weather.
Civilian volunteers who took part included builders from Ms Walsh's employer Meadowcourt Homes Ltd and former neighbours and friends from Co Cork.
Among them was dairy-farmer Joe Doyle, from the village of Killavullen outside Mallow who got up at 6am to milk his cows, drove the 250km round-trip with a neighbour and returned home after sunset to milk the cows again. Gardaí said they were "totally indebted to these people".
The search will continue this morning and is expected to extend to the Woodstown area.
Gardaí have also appealed to the owners of "premises, farms, land, sports grounds and parklands in the Woodstown and Dunmore East areas to check their property and to contact Waterford gardaí if they discover anything unusual".