About Adsar

We are a search and rescue group and we provide 24hour SAR service in the parishes noted below (primary search area). If you have a report of a missing person in your area please call one of the committee below. It doesn’t matter what time of the day or night it is. Also, if you even have suspicions that a person is missing, please do not delay contacting us, the earlier we are called in, the easier it will be for us to find that person.

Abbeyfeale – Templeglantine - Brosna – Knocknagoshel – Duagh – Tournafulla – Mountcollins – Monagea – Killeedy – Ashford – Newcastle West – Athea – Rockchapel – Meelin – Newmarket.

We are also available to assist in searches outside the primary search area, in an area within a 20 mile radius of Abbeyfeale (secondary search area). This may not be a 24 hour service. If you think that we can help, please call us.

ADSAR was set up because we realised that we as a small community we were not prepared for what happened when Ricky Loughnane went missing. Ricky went missing on his way home from town after being out with friends. The alarm was raised and people rallied and began searching. Initially it was disorganised. We didn’t know where to start; there was no plan for such an event.

We had no experience but we had to do something… so we set up a search base in the Day Care Centre in Abbeyfeale and began systematically searching everywhere we thought he could be.

People gave up their Christmas and joined in the search. For 12 long days hundreds of people searched from dawn to dusk. Each night we reviewed and planned the next days search in conjunction with the local Gardaí. 12 days later his body surfaced in a slurry pit in Dromtrasna. It was a heartbreaking experience, aiding the Fire Brigade and the Gardaí removing his body from the cold and murky slurry pit where he died so tragically. A fine young man with so much to live for.

It is believed that he died on the night he went missing. This gave us some comfort that our amateurish response did not contribute to his death. However, it shook us to the core to think that in a different scenario he may have been injured and waiting for us to rescue him. It is that thought that drove us to set up ADSAR.

The night he was found, a group of us got together and swore that if it happened again … we would do things differently. We all realised that it could have been one of us or our loved ones who went missing… That night we decided to form ADSAR

When someone goes missing we cannot guarantee a successful search, what we can guarantee is that “everything that can possibly be done, will be done” Even when the result is tragic there is great comfort and consolation in knowing that.

By forming ADSAR we hope that we have achieved this.

Commitee Members

Nicky Cotter (Chairman)
Jimmy Cahil (Assistant Chairman and Head of Finance)
Aine McCarthy (Secretary)
Kiernan Flannery (Assistant Secretary)
Liam Kelly (Treasurer)
Johnny Lyons (Assistant Treasurer)
Helen Broderick (PRO)
Dan McCarthy (Assistant PRO)
Christy Kelliher (Equipment Officer)

If someone is missing:

Please contact any of our commitee members.

Callout telephone numbers >>

How you can help ADSAR:

To find out more on how you can help us, please contact us at info@adsar.org