TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY has given a commitment that he will meet with the sister of Mary Boyle, who went missing in 1977.

Speaking during the Order of Business in the Dáil today, the Taoiseach was responding to a question from Sinn Féin’s Mary-Lou McDonald.

McDonald said that Mary Boyle’s sister, Ann Doherty, had concerns about a number of elements connected to the investigation of her sister’s death, and would Kenny meet with her.

“I’ve had some contact about this quite a number of years ago which I brought to the attention of the gardaí. I can’t say whether the allegation made was followed up or not but I brought it to the attention of gardaí,” the Taoiseach said.

I don’t have any objection to meeting, when I get a chance, with Mary’s sister. I’d be happy to do that.  

He then asked Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary-Lou McDonald if she could pass on contact information for Ann Doherty.

In a joint statement from the party’s Donegal TDs Pearse Doherty and Pádraig Mac Lochlainn this evening, Sinn Féin welcomed the commitment by the Taoiseach to meet with Boyle’s sister.

It said: “We trust that the Taoiseach and the Garda Commissioner will take the appropriate action to address Ann’s concerns and the concerns of many others around what happened to Mary Boyle all of those years ago.”

Mary Boyle disappeared at the age of 6 on 18 March 1977 and is presumed dead.

Her sister Ann Doherty has been working with Margo O’Donnell, sister of Daniel and distant cousin of the Boyles, and journalist Gemma O’Doherty.

Read more about the recent developments in Mary Boyle’s disappearance here. 

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