Cork farmers asked to check fields, outhouses for missing man

Farmers on the outskirts of Cork city have been asked by gardaí to check their outhouses and fields as a search continues for Diarmuid Twomey missing since before Christmas.

Insp Gary McPolin urged farmers in the Whitechurch and Ballinahina areas to check their outhouses as they continue the search for 31-year-old father of two.

Mr Twomey went missing in the early hours of December 20th when he failed to return home to Carrignavar village where he and his partner Ciara Byrne live their two young children.

The couple had been attending an 18th birthday party for Mr Twomey’s nephew in Bishopstown in Cork city but left it to visit a relative of Mr Twomey’s in Guranebraher.

They left the relative’s house on Templeacre Avenue in Gurranebraher around 2.30am and walked along Knockfree Avenue in Fair Hill where Ms Byrne caught a taxi home.

According to Ms Byrne, Mr Twomey had not been feeling well and said that he

would follow on and make his own way home to Carrignavar some 12km north of the city.

Mr Twomey was seen by a taxi driver walking on the main road to Whitechurch about 1km from Whitechurch village at around 4.20am on December 20th, according to Insp McPolin.

A man fitting his description was then seen about 2.5kms from Whitechurch village walking back towards Cork by another taxi driver at 5.20am and this was the last sighting of him.

Insp McPolin said that Mr Twomey’s phone was found at 11am on December 20th about 100km from this last sighting of him on the main Whitechurch road earlier that morning.

“We have had garda search teams out with sniffer dogs, civil defence teams and the Irish Coastguard helicopter has been down with heat-seeking equipment combing the area.

“As well as that we have had volunteers - friends and family of Mr Twomey - and the area has been searched in a careful co-ordinated manner since we were alerted on December 21st.

“But because of the bad weather, land has been very soft and not always easily accessible so we are appealing to farmers in the area to again check their outhouses and fields,” he said.

Mr Twomey’s partner, Ciara Byrne told the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s Red FM yesterday that she now believed that Mr Twomey was the victim of foul play.

But Insp McPolin said that gardaí had no evidence of foul play, having examined the roadway carefully and finding no sign of any hit and run or any struggle or abduction.

A keen hunter and angler, Mr Twomey was well respected and there was nothing in his background to suggest any criminal involvement in his disappearance, he said.

“Diarmuid was a devoted father, a good honest, hard-working man who used look after his elderly parents in Rathmore in Co Kerry and we are appealing to the public to help find him”

Mr Twomey, who was wearing a blue shirt and cream chinos, is described as being 6ft tall, and anyone with information is asked to contact Gurranebraher Garda Station 021-4946200.