The father of missing Newbridge woman Deirdre Jacob has called for the establishment of a new dedicated garda missing person's investigation unit.

Michael Jacob was speaking in Naas, Co Kildare, this morning after he issued an appeal for information on the 20th anniversary of his daughter's disappearance.

Deirdre Jacob was 18 years old when she vanished from outside her family home in Roseberry, Newbridge, on July 28 1998.

Ms Jacob had just completed one-year teacher training in St Mary's College in London, and was home to stay with her parents for the summer.

On Tuesday, 28 July 1998, she left her parent's home at about noon and walked into Newbridge to post a cheque to her college, and call in with her grandmother who owned a shop in the town.

At this morning's appeal Michael and Bernie Jacob said they remained hopeful that somebody would come forward with information which would lead to progress in the investigation.

They said they were satisfied that gardaí in Kildare were doing everything they could to try to locate their daughter, but the establishment of a new dedicated investigations unit would be a significant development in the ongoing efforts to locate Deirdre and several other missing people around the country.

They said a unit like this could concentrate on new technology and developments in all other missing person's cases.

Chief Superintendent Martin Walker of Naas Garda Station said there had been no new developments in their investigation but investigators were appealing to anybody with information to come forward and assist them with their inquiries.