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The Disappeared
REWARD OFFERED IN SEARCH FOR COLUMBA MCVEIGH
The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’
Remains has said a $60,000 (€54,000) reward is being offered
through an anonymous donor for information leading to the
location of the final three 'Disappeared' victims, including
Columba McVeigh. The Commission suspended a new search for
the remains of Mr McVeigh at
Bragan bog near Carrickroe last
November. The Archbishop of
Armagh Eamon Martin met the
family, including Mr McVeigh’s
brother and sister, Eugene and
Dympna, at the site where he
blessed the ground with holy
water. The 19-year-old from
Donaghmore, Co Tyrone, was
abducted by the IRA, shot and
secretly buried in November 1975.
The Disappeared is a group of 16
victims who were abducted,
murdered and secretly buried by republicans during the troubles
in the North.
So far, 13 of the 16 Disappeared victims have been recovered but
the remains of Columba McVeigh and two other men – former
Cistercian monk Joe Lynskey and British army captain Robert
Nairac – are unaccounted for.
The ICLVR has said a reward of $20,000 will be paid for
information on each of the three outstanding Disappeared cases
if it results in the location and recovery of the remains of any or
all of them. This is because it will have helped “close a chapter of
a terrible story in the lives of families who have suffered decades
of torment not knowing where their loved ones were buried”.
Cpt Robert Nairac: went missing in 1977.ICLVR lead investigator
Geoff Knupfer explained that through the CrimeStoppers charity
an anonymous donor had offered the rewards. Mr Knupfer said:
“Neither CrimeStoppers nor the ICLVR know the identity of the
donor."“A reward of $20,000 in each of the three outstanding
cases is substantial and whether or not it helps bring forward
information that we haven’t had to date and which results in the
location and recovery of the remains we’ll have to wait to see.”
Mr Knupfer said if new information comes to light this would be
“a hugely significant breakthrough. We should never lose sight of
the fact that the whole issue of the Disappeared is fundamentally
a humanitarian one,” he said.
“There are three families who have suffered so much and are still
waiting for their loved ones to be brought home for Christian
burial. That is the sole remit of the ICLVR.”
He emphasised that any information that went to CrimeStoppers
would be passed only to the ICLVR and to no one else and that
all information would be treated in the strictest confidence.
“We are entirely information-driven. We can give a cast-iron
guarantee which has been borne out over the twenty years that
the ICLVR has been in operation that any information received
can only be used by the ICLVR to locate and recover the remains.
It will never be shared with any other State body for any other
purpose."
“If information comes forward as a result of this reward, it will be
treated in exactly the same way,” he added.
If you have any information on the location of Columba McVeigh,
Joe Lynskey or Robert Nairac, you can call the confidential phone
number:
Ireland and Britain:
00800 - 55585500
International: +353 1 602 8655
E-mail: secretary@iclvr.ie
Confidential Post Box:
ICLVR, PO BOX 10827, Dublin 2.