GARDAI are expected to confirm plans for a cold-case investigation into the 1977 disappearance of Donegal girl, Mary Boyle - Ireland’s longest running missing child incident.
A cold case team, including a detective sergeant and two other officers, is expected to be be put in place to re-investigate all evidence.
Mary (6) was last seen by her uncle on her grandparents' farm at Cashelard near Ballyshannon on March 18, 1977.
Mary lived with her family, including twin sister, Ann, in west Donegal, but was visiting her mother's parents near Ballyshannon.
Interest in the case was re-awakened by a documentary about the missing child which was posted on YouTube. Mary Boyle: the Untold Story has been viewed by more than 70,000 people since it was posted last week.
In the documentary, former Garda officers who worked on the case claim they were told not to consider a particular individual as a suspect.
Mary's twin, Ann also said she believed her sister was murdered after she was sexually assaulted. The documentary also claimed a political representative interfered in the case.
Retired Garda, Martin Collins said: "The gist was that none of a particular family should be made suspect."
Another retired Garda, Aidan Murray claimed he was pulled back while interviewing a suspect.
Mr Murray said: "I said to him (the suspect), `Just tell us where the child is'. I got a little nudge from the inspector to ease off a little bit and I did."
It is understood the Garda cold case team will visit the area where the six-year-old was last seen alive and will interview all gardai who were involved in the original investigation.
News of the investigation emerged as plans were unveiled to stage a march to highlight Mary's case. The march, scheduled for Ballyshannon on Saturday (2pm), has been organised by Naomi Brady. Ms Brady said she decided to organise the march after watching the documentary.
Ms Brady said the march would assembly at the Abbey Centre in Ballyshannon and would proceed to the town's Garda station as that was "where the search for Mary Boyle ended".
The Irish News revealed last week that the PSNI has been asked to investigate claims that someone in Fermanagh may have knowledge about the case. The move followed claims in the YouTube documentary that Mary's body was buried close to the Fermanagh border.
