The case has attracted some publicity because of allegations of political interference which centred around the accusation that a politician phoned the Gardaí and told them to not question or detain their main suspect. O'Donnell was said to have walked up to the politician who was accused of making the call in 1977 and asked if he had done so. According to O'Donnell, he said "[that it] was untrue and called me a bare-faced liar." The length of time that Boyle has been missing, and allegations of official involvement, led The Guardian to label the case "Ireland's Madeleine McCann". The case is now the longest-running missing child case in modern Irish history, and despite the publicity it attracts, it has not been debated in the Dáil. It was raised by Lynn Boylan MEP in the European Parliament, where she highlighted the lack of direction in the case.
