THE family of a young Irish woman who has been missing for 17 years hopes to start a new search for her body in the coming weeks.
Wexford woman Fiona Sinnott has been missing from her home in Ballyhitt since February 1998.
Her family began their own private dig in Co. Wexford after new “reliable” information came to light, the Irish Independent reports.
News of a renewed search for the body of Ms Sinnott comes a week after gardaí began searching bog land in the Dundalk area for Ciara Breen, who was 17 years old when she disappeared in 1997.
Fiona SinnottThe disappearances of Ms Sinnott and Ms Breen have remained unsolved for two decades.
They are just two of Ireland’s seven missing women who disappeared between 1993 and 1998 and are the focus of Operation Trace, which was set up at the time to review their cases.
Ms Sinnott was 19 years old when she went missing on February 9, 1998.
She was a single mother to a then 11-month-old baby, and had recently separated from her boyfriend.
Ms Sinnott was living with her daughter in a rented cottage in Ballycushlane, Co. Wexford and was last seen alive at Butler’s pub in Broadway near Rosslare.
Despite the similarities between both Ms Sinnott and Ms Breen’s cases, gardaí believe that they are unconnected.
Ms Sinnott’s case was only upgraded to a full murder inquiry seven years after she went missing.
Her family began their private dig in recent weeks with the help of Trace Missing Persons Ireland.
A garda spokesperson said that "all potential avenues are being determinedly and actively pursued".
