On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the disappearance of Columba McVeigh (1 November 1975) who was murdered and secretly buried by the IRA an impassioned plea for information that could lead to the recovery of his remains has been made by his family.

 

Dympna Kerr, Columba’s sister speaking from her home in Liverpool said:

 

“We loved Columba very much. Every year that passes is harder than the last and this anniversary is particularly painful.  If Columba had lived we would have celebrated his 60th birthday last September. Not only was that denied us but we have no where to gather to mourn him. All we can do is to pray and plead. Pray that someday we’ll get him back and plead with anyone who has information to help bring an end to this nightmare. It’s terrible”.

 

Columba’s brother Oliver said:

 

“We keep being told there is a new dispensation and that we all have to find a way to deal with the past.

How can we even begin to do that?

Is forty years not long enough to punish a family?

Someone has the information that can end this inhumanity at absolutely no risk to themselves”.

 

The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’  Remains (ICLVR) has thrown its weight behind the renewed appeal for information.

 

Four searches, the most recent in September 2013, have been carried out on the Bog since 1999 initially by the Garda and then the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains (ICLVR).

 

Frank Murray, one of the two Commissioners on the ICLVR appointed by the British and Irish Governments, said:

 

“The fact that we have yet to find Columba does not mean that this is a lost cause.

Far from it.

We are convinced that the information we have recieved to date has us in the right place.

A huge expanse of Bragan Bog has been searched.

What we need now is more information to be able to refine the search area.

That’s what happened in the search for Brendan Megraw whose remains we found last October some 15 years after searching commenced.

I can give an absolute guarantee to anyone who has information and brings it to the Commission that it will be treated in complete confidence”.

 

Sandra Peake the CEO of the WAVE Trauma Centre which has supported the Families of the Disappeared since 1995 said that the dignity and resilence of the McVeigh family is remarkable.

 

“ Since this time last year the ICLVR has restored the remains of three of the Disappeared to their families. All of the families including the McVeighs rejoice at the news that loved ones have been returned to their families for a Christian burial. At the same time it makes their continuing plight all the more stark.

Someone who can help bring an end to their intolerable suffering should search their conscience to do what is right”.

 

 

Anyone with information should contact the ICLVR’s confidential telephone number on 00800-55585500 or write to them on ICLVR, PO BOX, 10827, Dublin 2.

 

Ends