Now his heartbroken family are holding out fresh hopes that new technology may be able to solve the mystery of Tony’s disappearance.

Over the past few days the Garda have teamed up with specialist Civil Defence operatives to search lakes along the Fermanagh- Monaghan border, while the latest drone technology is also being used in the search for new leads into Tony’s disappearance.

 Almost two decades on, local people are still mystified at how a man well known in the community across the south Fermanagh and Clones area could disappear without any corroborated sightings since. 

Bizarrely, Tony’s car – a white Mitsubishi Gallant – was sighted on the main Newry to Dublin road several days after his disappearance, but has not been seen since.

Pat Treanor, Clones councillor, knew Tony well. He said, “Tony was well thought of by the people around the town, it was an absolute shock to the community that he vanished so quickly, without a trace.”

Tony Lynch was last sighted at the Hibernia Hotel, Clones at 6pm on January 6, 2002, and earlier on Fermanagh Street, Clones at 2pm. Despite very few developments on the case since, his family have never given up hope. Inside this week’s paper, Tony Lynch’s son, Peter, talks of the heartache that his family have been through over the last 18 years of not knowing where their father is, and he makes a fresh appeal to anyone  who can help bring closure to his family’s nightmare.