Father of missing Newbridge woman describes 'battling with a loss, everyday and night.'

The father of a young woman missing from Newbridge since 1998 expressed the family's heartache at Farmleigh House in the Phoenix Park yesterday.

Marking national missing persons' day yesterday, Deirdre Jacob's father, Michael said: “We are battling with a loss, every day and night."

18-year-old Deirdre Jacob was about start her second year of teacher training at St. Mary’s in Strawberry Hill, Twickenham and was getting a bank draft to send to a college friend for her rent deposit.

She went to the bank, the post office and then visited her granny in her shop before heading home. She was last seen shortly after 3p.m. inside the gate of the family home in Roseberry, Newbridge.

At Farmleigh yesterday,  Garda Commissioner Noirín O'Sullivan gave a commitment that  the Gardaí will continue to investigate each missing person’s case, no matter how long-running or difficult the cases may be.

More than 9,000 people were reported missing in Ireland last year alone, and 17 of these cases remain unsolved.

She added that advances in technology such as DNA profiling may help to solve historic cases.