An English woman has reunited with her estranged sister and brought her home to see their mother for the first time in 42 years, thanks to RTÉ Radio 1’s Liveline.
Surjit Nanda, from Bedford in England, arrived in Dublin two weeks ago to search for her younger sister, who ran away from the family home in 1973 when she was 13.
The younger sister was believed to be living in Ireland because she had left the UK with an Irish man and had later contacted the family to tell them she was okay and living in Dublin.
Ms Nanda said that the family had been forbidden by their father from contacting their sister, as he never forgave her for leaving home.
She said that she had kept in contact with her sister through letters but had lost her address and had not been in touch with her since.
Ms Nanda said that she tried to find her sister by walking through Dublin city centre looking for people who resembled her.
On her way back to Dublin Airport, Ms Nanda told the taxi driver about her plight and he told her to ring Liveline.
Pet name
After ringing into the show, Liveline presenter Joe Duffy asked Ms Nanda if she had a pet name for her sister, which he read out.
Listeners who recognised this nickname then got in touch with the show.
Through this, Ms Nanda discovered that her sister is now named Vicky Jackson and lives in Castlepollard in Co Westmeath.
Her brother-in-law is Cllr Vincent Jackson of Ballyfermot, a former lord mayor of Dublin.
Speaking on Tuesday’s Liveline programme, Ms Nanda said she was reunited with her sister in Dublin on Friday and it felt like “no time had passed between them”.
The sisters flew back to Bedford together to reunite Ms Jackson with their mother, who she had not seen since 1973.