Search for missing Kerry farmer continues as calls grow for Defence Forces assistance
Michael 'Mike' Gaine buying phone credit in Centra, Kenmare, Co. Kerry, at 9.48am on Thursday March 20. Picture: An Garda Siochana/PA Wire
A local Kerry councillor says there have been discussions about the Defence Forces being called in to help with the search for missing sheep farmer Michael Gaine.
The Kenmare-based 56-year-old has been missing since he was last seen in a Centra supermarket in Kenmare on the morning of the previous Thursday.
An in-store camera filmed him wearing a distinctive orange woolly hat, black fleece, blue jeans, and black boots.
A short while later, he walked out into the car park, got into his nine-year-old bronze Toyota RAV4 jeep, and drove onto the Killarney Road towards Moll’s Gap.
He is understood to have driven past the house he shared with his wife, Janice, in Carhoomeengar East, three kilometres from Kenmare, before heading straight to his family’s old farmhouse, less than a kilometre from Moll’s Gap, along the Ring of Kerry route.
But he has not been seen since.
Local Kerry County Council councillor Teddy O'Sullivan Casey said: "It is a total and utter mystery.
"Hopefully the gardaí might be able to get something out of Michael's phone.
"As far as I understand it there are as many gardaí still working on this today as there were yesterday and there is some talks of the army coming down to help in the search.
"But I do not know if that has happened yet."
Friend, neighbour and fellow councillor Dan McCarthy said: "It would be great if the army were called in because it would really help speed things up for Mike's family.
"That said, the soldiers would have their work cut out for them.
"The potential area to be searched is large."
Asked if Defence Forces soldiers are due to help, a Garda spokesperson – who previously stated that they do not usually comment on specifics of an investigation – said: "An Garda Síochána continues to work with and is fully supported by other State and voluntary agencies in ongoing efforts to locate Michael Gaine."
The Defence Forces Press Office was also asked for a comment.
Some 200 or so volunteers initially joined the search over the first weekend, after the alarm was raised on Friday morning.
Helping them were units of the Irish Coast Guard, Civil Defence, the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team, and gardaí.
Drones with live cameras streaming video back to their operators were also used in some of the less accessible areas, sweeping back and forth to see if they could spot Mr Gaine.
Members of the Garda Water Unit searched water in an old disused quarry near Mr Gaine’s old farmhouse on Thursday morning.
They also spent two hours going back and forth along the shore of the nearby Barfinnihy Lake but found nothing of any evidential value.
On Thursday, exactly a week after his disappearance, Gardaí renewed their appeal for information.
Telling reporters that his family remains “extremely concerned” for his welfare, Superintendent Dave Callaghan said gardaí continue to want to speak to anybody who travelled on the N71 in and around Kenmare and the Moll’s Gap area on Thursday or Friday of the previous week and who may have any dashcam footage.
He said that Mr Gaine’s Toyota RAV4 jeep was found parked in his farmyard, just off the N71 at Carrig East.
While this had been searched, so too had his farmyard and the immediate vicinity.
“Michael's family have had no contact from him and his family and An Garda Siochána are extremely concerned for his well-being,” he said.
