Life & Style

'I need to know if he's alive or dead' - Man's plea to end 34 year search for Irish father

A MAN has made an appeal to end the 34 year search for the Irish father he never met.

Alan Pierce, 54 and from Manchester, has turned to The Irish Post readers to find his father Finbar Pearse Donnelly.

Mr Donnelly, who was also known as John, was born in Dublin in November 1934, the youngest of five siblings born to Mary Donnelly née Higgins, and Timothy Donnelly in the Portobello area of the city.

Mr Donnelly's family were well known as their uncle Simon Donnelly was a prolific member of the Irish Republican Army during the Easter Rising and famously, in February 1921 Simon was arrested, only to escape four days later from Kilmainham Gaol, returning to his command in the IRA.

Finbar Donnelly later moved to Britain, as did his sister Barbara who lived in the Cheshire area and worked as a piano teacher.

In 1962, Mr Donnelly met Mr Pierce's mother while working at a hotel on the Isle of Man.

Mr Pierce's mother later returned to Salford in Manchester, where he was born in 1963.

At the age of 20 Mr Pierce - a British army veteran and avid climber - discovered he was adopted which he said was a 'huge shock' and began a 34 year search to find his father.

After some contact with distant family members, Mr Pierce discovered that his father died in an incident at Clapham Junction train station in either 1968 or 1976.

However, despite using a genealogist, Mr Pierce has never been able to locate a death certificate for his father.

Speaking to The Irish Post, Mr Pearse said: "The main reason I am searching is to try to find out for certain if my father is still alive or not.

"I am looking for some type of closure and I would really like to know one way or the other.

"I have never seen a photo of my father so it would be nice if anything was to turn up especially because I am now a father and a grandfather to a five year old granddaughter."