SOMETIMES working in journalism alters your perception of the world. One of the first things I learned when I joined The Irish News a decade ago was that disappearances are more frequent than many people realise. People go missing every day.
Almost every evening, the news desk receives emails from police on both sides of the border appealing for information on people who have not been seen by their loved ones in days. Most are teenagers who are found safe and well a few days later. Some are adults whose disappearance frequently turns out to be more complex.
Christmas and the New Year is a time for family and celebration. Tens of thousands of Irish emigrants travel long distances every year just so they can spend a few days at home.
Yet the festive period is also a time when people are reported missing.
A recent study found that men are more likely to go missing and die in December than at any other time of the year.
Research by London's Kingston University and the UK Missing Persons Bureau found that a fifth of men who disappeared and died over the last five years did so around Christmas.
Of the disappearances recorded, five had been to a Christmas party and another five went missing on New Year's Eve or in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
A large number of the deaths involved water.
Geoff Newiss, an honorary fellow at Kingston University who led the research, said he hoped the study would help reduce delays in finding missing people who had died.
"It's a tragedy for any family to have a husband, son or brother go missing on a night out and then be found to have died," he said.
"But it's made a lot worse when families are left wondering what's happened to their loved one for weeks and, in some cases, years."
Some families spent Christmas waiting for news of their loved one. But one Co Down family has been waiting longer than most.
On New Year's Day 2006, 21-year-old man Martin Kelly went missing. He was last seen outside Pat's Bar in the docks area of Belfast.
Despite several land and sea searches, Martin, from Holywood, has never been found.
For the last decade, his father Raymond Kelly (64) has doggedly followed the case. Every year, he speaks to journalists to appeal for information about his son.
In 2011, a "reminder" bench was placed in Belfast Harbour, where Martin was last seen.
Martin is Raymond’s only son. He has lost out on ten years of Christmases, ten years of birthdays, ten years of seeing his son grow from a young man to an adult.
He said Martin is in his thoughts every day. It would be understandable if he decided there was nothing more he could do to find Martin, but Raymond told me last week that he will never give up.
"The reason I keep on is simple - there are people who know something who have never come forward," he said.
"Martin is still classed as a missing person.
"There were people who were drinking with Martin in Pat's Bar that night. Maybe some of them know something.”
Raymond said he does not believe that Martin simply walked out of the bar and fell into the harbour.
He has never given up hope that two women who alleged they overheard men making threats about Martin will eventually come forward.
The women met a man in St Colmcille's Church in Holywood in January 2006 and told him they were praying for Martin.
"They said they had overheard men in the Priory Bar (in Holywood), where Martin worked, saying they were going to do Martin in," Raymond said.
"It was 10 years ago. Maybe they’re married now and have children of their own.
"Maybe they think that now is the time to come forward."
Over Christmas, the Kelly family should have been celebrating with Martin, instead they were faced with an empty chair at the dinner table. Raymond Kelly will see in 2016 still waiting for news.
As we head into the New Year, may every family still searching for their loved ones find the answers they deserve.
