<p>
	Separate digs started for Fiona and Ciara Breen after fresh tip-offs in unsolved cases</p>
<p>
	Separate searches are under way for the remains of two young women who vanished exactly a year apart in the 1990s.</p>
<p>
	The disappearances of Fiona Sinnott and Ciara Breen have remained unsolved for two decades but their families believe they are now closer than ever to gaining closure.</p>
<p>
	Cold-case detectives began combing 16 acres of marshland near Dundalk, Co Louth, yesterday looking for Ms Breen, who was 17 when she disappeared in February 1997.</p>
<p>
	The Irish Independent can reveal that the family of Ms Sinnott have begun their own private dig in Co Wexford.</p>
<p>
	She has been missing from the home she shared with her then 11-month-old daughter in Ballyhitt in February 1998.</p>
<p>
	&quot;People are coming to us all the time with bits and pieces of information, we are going on every lead now, not just one lead, we&#39;ve got three prime places that we have to look into,&quot; said Fiona&#39;s uncle Eugene.</p>
<p>
	Although there are many similarities between the cases, garda&iacute; are satisfied that there is no connection and have two different suspects in mind.</p>
<p>
	They are just two of Ireland&#39;s seven missing women who disappeared in an area that became known as the &#39;Vanishing Triangle,&#39; between 1993 and 1998.</p>
<p>
	Yesterday, garda divers were joined by forensic archaeologists and the Garda Tactical Team at Balmor&#39;s Bog near Dundalk after getting a &quot;serious lead&quot; in Ms Breen&#39;s case.</p>
<p>
	Lead investigator Detective Pat Marry said they were concentrating their efforts on a specific area of the sprawling marsh.</p>
<p>
	&quot;As you can see, we are treating this very seriously. It is a definite line of inquiry.</p>
<p>
	&quot;It is a mammoth task given the size of the search area but at the moment we are looking at specific areas,&quot; he added.</p>
<p>
	Another senior source said they were &quot;quietly confident&quot; that the search would turn something up.</p>
<p>
	The breakthrough follows a media appeal late last year that resulted in two anonymous letters with information being sent to garda&iacute;.</p>
<p>
	Last April, a man in his 50s was arrested and questioned but later released without charge.</p>
<p>
	Meanwhile, speaking exclusively to the Irish Independent, the family of Fiona Sinnott, who was 19 when she disappeared, said they had also now been approached by &quot;reliable sources&quot; with new information.</p>
<p>
	Although she disappeared in 1998, it wasn&#39;t until 2005 that the investigation was upgraded to a full murder inquiry.</p>
<p>
	Fiona&#39;s father Pat died 11 years ago aged 59, a &quot;broken-hearted&quot; man ,having waited at the gate of his house every single evening since February 9, 1998, for his youngest child to return home.</p>
<p>
	Now one of three sites being searched in the south-east is emerging as the strongest possibility of solving the mystery.</p>
<p>
	The family, with the assistance of Trace Missing Persons Ireland, began digging in recent weeks.</p>
<p>
	Specially trained cadaver dogs are being used, as are diggers that were lent to the family by a local firm. Members of An Garda S&iacute;och&aacute;na have also visited the area.</p>
<p>
	Fiona had been out with friends in her local pub, Butler&#39;s in Broadway, on the night she vanished.</p>
<p>
	Garda&iacute; identified it as the last place she was seen alive.</p>
<p>
	&quot;We think something drastic happened that night, that Fiona left the pub, something drastic,&quot; her sister Diane said.</p>
<p>
	She said that Fiona rang her brother &quot;pleading&quot; for him to go to her that night.</p>
<p>
	&quot;It was like as if she was in fear. He feels guilty, that if he went down that night things would be different,&quot; she said.</p>
<p>
	A garda spokesperson said that &quot;all potential avenues are being determinedly and actively pursued&quot;.</p>
<p>
	He said they are carrying out a &quot;thorough evaluation of the information already in our possession from the investigation to date since 1998 and with the possible leads from our ongoing inquiries&quot;.</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/revealed-family-of-missing-fiona-sinnott-begin-own-private-dig-in-search-31462114.html">http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/revealed-family-of-missing-fiona-sinnott-begin-own-private-dig-in-search-31462114.html</a></p>
