The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, has warned against drawing conclusions about the disappearance of a number of women.
The Garda had informed the Minister that no discernible pattern had emerged which would support the theory that a serial killer could be responsible for a number of those disappearances.
The Minister of State for Health, Dr Tom Moffatt, replying to an adjournment motion on behalf of Mr O'Donoghue, told the Dβil:
"The Minister would like to take this opportunity to point out that no useful purpose is served by speculation in the absence of facts.
"The Minister does not feel that it is helpful to prejudge the outcome of any one case, or set of cases, and feels that such speculation, however well intentioned, is not fair to the families involved who, of course, are suffering greatly."
Dr Moffatt said that all the necessary resources were being made available to garda∅ to enable them to carry out their investigations into missing people.
The matter was raised by Mr Tom Enright (Fine Gael, Laois-Offaly), who said that some of the bodies of those missing had been recovered while others had not.
"The sad fact is that nobody has been caught or convicted for approximately 10 murders inside the last 10 years," he added.
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