Please help us find Thomas

THE heartbroken family of Finglas granddad Thomas Kennedy has taken part in a new online documentary in a desperate effort to find out what happened to the missing 81-year-old.

Thomas was last seen by neighbours putting his bin out for collection outside his home at Virginia Park at around 9.30pm on July 29 last. There have been no confirmed sightings since, and the family has been forced to live with the unbearable torment of not knowing what happened to him.

Search parties and a high-profile poster campaign to find the much-loved senior citizen were organised in the immediate aftermath of Thomas’s disappearance, but to no avail.

As days turned to weeks and months, media interest in the campaign waned but the family has never given up hope that one day the mystery of why Thomas vanished without trace will be solved.

Family friend and local radio presenter, Jamie Jay Car, has now helped the family make a poignant documentary about the disappearance, which everybody hopes will put Thomas back under the spotlight.

He was first discovered missing by grandson Ross, who has lived with Thomas and his wife Fran for several years.

“I came in at around 11pm that night and it was shortly after that I discovered he was missing,

? he recalls in the documentary.

“I thought it was strange because the lights in the kitchen were on and there wouldn’t be usually anybody up at that time. I went upstairs and my nanny asked me to make sure granddad took his tablets and I went back down but there was nobody there.

“He’s not the sort of person who would leave without telling anybody.

“We waited an hour or two to see if he’d come home and then we phoned the guards.

?
Search parties were swiftly organised as the family struggled to come to terms with the puzzling situation.

Thomas’s son, Vincent, explained why the disappearance of his father was so out of character.

“He was always there for us,

? he said.

“He lived and lives for the grandkids. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for them.

?

The family has been unable to tell Thomas’s younger grandchildren the truth about his disappearance.

“They’re asking where is he,

? said Vincent.

“One keeps saying

‘I miss you, I love you. I hope you come home’ because they think he’s in hospital. There’s no way they’d fully understand the seriousness of the situation. It’s heartbreaking.

“We told my eldest, who’s only four, that he was playing hide-and-seek and we couldn’t find him. He turned around and told us

‘he’s only down the road, come on and we’ll get him.’ I just wish it was that easy.

?

The family are tormented by questions about the disappearance and cling desperately to the hope that one day they’ll have some answers.

“The weirdest thing about it is that there’s no CCTV footage of him whatsoever,

? said Vincent.

“The hardest part is not knowing. If, God forbid, he is dead we could grieve, it’s closure.

“But there’s always that slight, slight hope that he’ll come back to us. I’ll never give up.’
Thomas’s daughter-in-law, Claire Kennedy, said the family was worried that people were starting to lose interest in Thomas.

“We’re concerned that people will assume that because they’ve heard nothing that he’s been found, one way or another,

? she explained.

“We just want to tell people he’s not found and we still need to bring him home. If would be great if people watched and shared the video documentary or followed the Missing Persons Thomas Kennedy page on Facebook.

?

Anybody with any information about Thomas Kennedy’s disappearance should contact Finglas
Garda Station on 01-6667500.