Gardaí begin dig for 'disappeared'

Gardaí and a team of scientists and an anthropologist have started a dig at a graveyard in Co Monaghan in an attempt to establish if a body believed to be buried there is one of the "disappeared".

An exhumation order was sought from the Minister for Justice after gardaí and the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains received information regarding the identity of the body in the grave at Urbleshanny Church just outside Scotstown.

The site in Co Monaghan is in the same region were several digs have taken place in the search for Columba McVeigh, a 17-year-old from Donaghmore in Co Tyrone who was abducted and murdered by the IRA in October 1975.

Last December, Fermanagh-based priest Fr Joe McVeigh called on the commission and the Department of Justice to investigate a secret burial at the graveyard.

Fr McVeigh said he had been given information that a body was buried in a shallow grave. He said the grave was discovered in 1980 when the remains of a person who had died in England were being legitimately buried in the plot.

Oliver McVeigh, Columba’s brother, said the family would be waiting for the outcome of DNA tests.

“I’m not too hopeful but you can never lose hope. It’s a possibility,” he said.

“But you never lose hope. My mother died in hope and I’m here living her life and breathing her breath and hopefully we’ll get the result. We are hopeful but we don’t want to build anything up until the DNA comes out.”

Gardaí hope to establish if one of the so-called "disappeared" that come within the remit of the commission was buried in the grave.

The exhumation being carried out in the presence of the State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy and a forensic anthropologist. Commission staff and scientists are also present.

A forensic examination of the remains will take place once the body is exhumed but it is anticipated that it will take some time to establish its identity.

Sixteen people are categorised as having ‘disappeared’ during the Troubles and nine bodies have been recovered to date.

The Provisional IRA admitted responsibility for killing 11 of the 16 and one death was admitted by the INLA. It is not known who killed the remaining four.