THE MOTHER OF Mary Boyle has said that the day her daughter vanished 37 years ago is ’etched on her mind’.

Speaking to Pat Kenny on Newstalk today, Ann Boyle spoke about the disappearance of her daughter after a man was arrested yesterday.

Gardaí today extended the period of detention on the man.

Ann Boyle said that the day of Mary’s disappearance from her grandparents’ home  in Kincassalagh, Co Donegal, was still fresh in her mind.

“We had our dinner and I was washing up with my sister in law and my dad said look out on the children. I could hear them, but he said it a second time.

“I went to the door and could only see a couple of them. I couldn’t see Mary and the children said that they hadn’t seen her.”

Ann says that Mary followed her uncle to return a ladder to a neighbouring farm, but had turned back. She was never seen again.

“Right away, I was in a total panic. It was total chaos. Everyone went in different directions.

“I knew every nook and cranny of that area because I grew up there.

“She was a child that didn’t like playing for too long, so she’d wash the dishes for me and sweep the floor.

“The Garda was called and when I looked up, there was a helicopter in the sky.

“There was nothing found. If she was wondering around anywhere, the ribbon in her hair would have been found.”

Ann said that she believes that Mary is still alive, saying that her husband Charlie, who died nine years ago, guided the family.

My heart was absolutely broken. People went back to their own lives, but I couldn’t. My husband Charlie kept the family going. He was totally my rock.

“I had to believe she was alive.”

Ann also says that speculation that she knew the man arrested is wide of the mark.

“I knew of him. He was from the general area. I didn’t go to school with him or anything like that.”

Read: Man arrested in Ireland’s oldest missing person case