The family of missing teenager Amy Fitzpatrick have presented a petition of 20,000 signatures to the EU Commission office in Dublin calling for the introduction of a system that would alert all EU States when children go missing.
The missing teenager's aunt, Christine Kenny, said if a US-style Amber Alert system was put in place it may lead to child abduction cases being solved when children were being moved across EU borders by their abductors.
She believed the 20,000 signatures collected in Ireland and across the world reflected support for the introduction of such an alert system.
"I would urge parents, grandparents and parents to be to think what they would do if it was there child missing. There is nothing there for you."
She said her family had heard nothing from Amy since her disappearance in Spain almost seven months ago. However, they were heartened by the fact nothing had emerged to suggest she was dead.
"I'm very hopeful we will find her. There's no evidence (that Amy is dead), no clothing found. There's always hope."
Ms Kenny was speaking at the EU Commission's offices on Dawson Street after she presented the petition to officials.
Amy (15) disappeared after leaving a friend's house at about 10pm on January 1st to walk to her home in Riviera del Sol, Mijas. She had been living in Spain with her mother and her mother's partner. The family is originally from Donaghmede, Dublin.
A police search in Spain has failed to uncover any information as to her whereabouts.
Ms Kenny said the Amber Alert system would involve the rapid sharing of information, including photographs, about missing children.
This would enable police forces, transport companies and other agencies to be vigilant, particularly in the first two to three days after abduction when a child may be smuggled to another country.
Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald, who was with Ms Kenny at the petition presentation, said commitments made by EU heads of state to implement an integrated alert system but have yet come to fruition.
"I urge Nicolas Sarkozy to prioritise the delivery of this system during the current French Presidency of the Union and all EU leaders to support such efforts," she said.
Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern met with Amy's mother Audrey Fitzpatrick in March to discuss the case. However, Christine Kenny - who is Amy's father's sister - revealed her side of the family were dissatisfied with the response of the Government.
She had sent requests to a number of ministers seeking meetings but apart from acknowledgements that their letters were received the family had received no response.
Ms Kenny said her family had contacted the Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern and Minister for Children Barry Andrews. A spokesman for Mr Ahern said the minister would meet Ms Kenny and other family members to discuss the case.
Audrey Fitzpatrick gave an interview to Spain's EFE news agency in which she expressed her hope that her daughter will still be found.
She said she believed her daughter might be with "an older man" and probably left the country by car, despite not having her passport. She is convinced that, even though Amy may originally have "made plans" with the man, she is now being held against her will.
