Isn't it strange the way some faces are instantly recognisable? You may never have met the people but as soon as you see their faces you know exactly who they are.

I was watching Crimecall on Monday night when Annie McCarrick's face appeared. Hers was a lovely open face, the face of someone who loved the outdoors. But 23 years ago she disappeared and has never been heard of since.

As the Garda outlined Annie's final movements, it was all so familiar and so heart breaking. She was an only child and I can't imagine the pain and desolation her parents Nancy and John suffered since she disappeared. Her dad died a few years ago but her mam is still alive and all she wants is to bring her beloved daughter’s body home.

For people of my generation and older, the names and faces of Annie McCarrick, Jo-Jo Dullard, Fiona Pender, Ciara Breen, Fiona Sinnott and Deirdre Jacob will never be forgotten. They were all young women who, in the space of a few years just disappeared without trace. Their disappearances remain a mystery much to the frustration of their families and the Gardai.

I remember interviewing Jo-Jo's sister Mary Phelan and she had very strong views on what happened to her younger sister, who was last seen hitching a lift from Moone to her home in Callan, Co Kilkenny. Nowadays you see very few people thumbing but back then it was common place, indeed I often did it myself.

Mary campaigned long and hard for a memorial to the missing. She achieved her wish in 2002 when a national monument to them was unveiled in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle by President Mary McAleese. At least it is somewhere the families can go to grieve for those who are missing.

I also met Michael and Bernadette Jacob, parents of Deirdre who is now missing for 18 years. I remember meeting them in the Hazel Hotel in Monestereven and worrying about how I'd recognise them. I need not have worried. As soon as they got out of their car I couldn’t miss them. They had what I could only describe as a haunted look on their faces and that hasn’t gone away.

Deirdre was one of two sisters. She disappeared just a few yards from her front door on a bright summer afternoon. Within two hours of her disappearance her family knew something was wrong and a massive search was organised almost immediately. But no trace of Deirdre was ever found.

I remember her mam telling me that if she was in a clothes shop and she’d see something Deirdre would like, just for a split second she’d think of getting it for her, and the realisation of her disappearance would hit home.

It’s a terrible thing to lose a child, but to lose one and never know what happened to them or where their last resting place is is beyond pain. For people my age, we all remember the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of these young women. We recognise their faces.

But time is marching on, and when I asked my youngest who is 21 who each of them were, he had no idea. So it’s vitally important that anyone who has the least bit of suspicion or a shred of evidence needs to come forward now. The families of these young women need to bring them home.