Gardaí have issued a renewed appeal for a missing farmer in Co Kerry whose whereabouts have been unknown for three weeks.
Michael 'Mike' Gaine was last seen in Kenmare town on the morning of 20 March, where he bought phone credit in a Centra store before leaving in his RAV4.
Mr Gaine’s bronze-coloured vehicle was subsequently found the next day parked in his farmyard.
An Garda Síochána said it has conducted nearly 230 formal enquiries, has taken nearly 100 witness statements and recovered approximately 1,500 hours of CCTV/dash-cam footage in its "extensive" search for the 56-year-old.
Since his disappearance, An Garda Síochána said it has carried out extensive and daily searches focused on Mr Gaine’s farmyard at Carrig East alongside its "surrounding lands, water sources and roads".
Since the 1 April, gardaí said its search operations have been provided further assistance from several battalions of the Irish Defence Forces, who were deployed to search wooded and marsh areas.
The gardaí’s operations have also been supported by specialist garda members including the Garda Water Unit, the Civil Defence, Irish Coast Guard Units including rescue helicopter 115, the Kerry Mountain Service, the Kerry Fire Service as well as a rescue dog team and 200 civilian volunteers.
However, the gardaí said despite the ongoing search operation, it has not found out what happened to Mr Gaine on 20 March and it remains "extremely concerned for his well-being".
Mr Gaine, who has brown/grey hair and a beard, was last seen wearing an orange woolly hat, blue jeans and black boots.
An Garda Síochána said it is still seeking information from any person who travelled on the N71 on Thursday 20 March after 09.48am and / or any person who may have any camera footage, including dash-cam or CCTV, or any other images, video or still, from Thursday 20 March and Friday 21 March in the Kenmare town or N71/ R568 area of Moll’s Gap to provide that imagery to the investigation team.
An Garda Síochána continues to appeal to any person who may have any information on Mr Gaine's whereabouts to contact Killarney Garda Station on 064 667 1160, the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111 or any garda station.
