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Minister Shatter addressing the launch

Minister Shatter speaks with Helen Grealis of Searching for the Missing and Dermot Browne of Missing in Ireland Support Services at the launch

Each year approximately 4,000 people are reported missing in Ireland. Justice Minister Alan Shatter today launched Ireland's first national Missing Persons Day at Farmleigh House, Dublin.

Missing Persons Day will take place each year on the first Wednesday in December.

The ceremony at Farmleigh saw musicians mark the national day, with soprano Celine Byrne performing "A Candle For You" by Marie Dunne, and young singer-songwriter Olivia Burke performing her song "Missing".

The Garda Band and the Penston Vocal Academy, an Arklow-based youth choir, also performed.

Dermot Browne, Chairperson of

and Helen Grealis of

, spoke at the ceremony.

Minister Shatter and Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan also addressed the ceremony.

Speaking to the gathered family members of missing people, the Minister said:

It is important at a national level that we do not forget those who are missing and that we do not ignore the devastating impact of such a traumatic event on immediate and extended family and friends...I have proposed to my EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial colleagues that consideration be give to developing a ‘European Missing Persons Day’. It would also promote additional collaboration between Member States, in particular in the vital exchange of good practice and experience in this area and increase the possibility of reconnecting with individuals who, without explanation, chose to reside elsewhere in the European Union without forewarning to family and friends.

It is a terrible experience for any family to have a loved one who is missing. I know hope that a missing person will be found, or reappear alive and well, is never fully lost until definite facts emerge to extinguish that hope. The continuing uncertainty can, for those affected, be compounded by an inability to address fully the consequences of a person disappearing. I fully appreciate that the law cannot ease that sense of devastation and uncertainty. However, I believe there is scope to provide a mechanism for some closure for families in legal terms where a loved one is missing for a number of years.

Minister Shatter concluded:

I thank you once again for welcoming me here this morning, it is truly an honour and I want to assure you that I am committed to ensuring that Missing Persons Day is commemorated annually in Ireland.

I want to take the opportunity, once again, to acknowledge the role of the Transition Year Students of Davis College, Mallow, Co. Cork who were awarded ‘Young Social Innovators of the Year 2012’ for their work in calling for a national Missing Persons Day.

If you have information about a missing person, contact your local Garda station, and call the Missing Persons Helpline on 1890 442 552.