Gardaí have begun a new search for missing Wexford teenager Fiona Sinnott at a site close to her family's home in the village of Bridgetown in the southern part of the county.
The renewed effort to establish what happened to the 19-year-old mother of one, who disappeared eight years ago, follows a series of digs to locate her body in Broadway, Co Wexford, in January that yielded nothing.
The Irish Times understands a fresh search was begun at 9am yesterday morning around a laneway in the Mulrankin area, around one mile from Bridgetown.
Nothing had been found last night but searching was due to continue this morning.
A second site in the area close to St David's Church, Mulrankin, has also been identified and gardaí were expected to search it today.
The sites were identified after a Dublin-based clairvoyant contacted Ms Sinnott's family after he had read about her disappearance.
He told the family he believes she was bludgeoned to death and that some of her bloodstained clothing was discarded in a ditch close to St David's church. He also said her remains may be buried close to a nearby septic tank. Family members approached local gardaí with this information last month and gardaí agreed to search the areas identified.
However, senior sources last night said while they could not ignore the fresh information, an early breakthrough was unlikely.
However, the missing woman's uncle, Johnny Sinnott, said he was hopeful the teenager's remains would be found.
"I have never given up hope over the past eight years. We are praying this will end our agony. This [ clairvoyant] man seems so genuine. He told us of so many things that all fitted into Fiona's disappearance, and also the fact that she may have been bludgeoned to death."
Ms Sinnott has been missing, presumed dead, since February 8th, 1998, when she was last seen drinking in Butler's pub in Broadway near Rosslare.
She was seen at closing time leaving the bar with her ex-partner and father of her baby daughter, Seán Carroll. Their daughter Emma, now nine years old, was 11 months when her mother disappeared.
Mr Carroll told gardaí at the time that he spent the night at Ms Sinnott's cottage in Ballycushlane, Co Wexford. He said when he left next morning Ms Sinnott was at the house.
Last September gardaí arrested the chief suspect in the case, one other man and three women. The arrests were made after fresh information about the possible location of Ms Sinnott's body came to light.
None of those arrested was charged. However, in January gardaí excavated a field near Killinick, Co Wexford, in the hope of locating her remains. Nothing was found.
The youngest of five siblings, she had previously gone missing for a short period but had turned up safe and well. As a result, her disappearance in 1998 was not reported to gardaí until February 18th.
In the months following, an exhaustive search continued, matching the intensity of a murder inquiry.
Her case was also featured in Operation Trace, which investigated a number of high-profile missing persons' cases involving women last seen in the Leinster area.