The search for the body of Columba McVeigh, one of the IRA’s so-called Disappeared victims, resumed at a bog in Co Monaghan today.
The 17-year-old from Donaghmore in Co Tyrone, was abducted and murdered by the IRA in Dublin in October 1975.
Despite extensive searches across Monaghan, including the excavation of a grave next to Urbleshanny church, near Scotstown, last summer, his remains have yet to be found. His mother Vera died five years ago before his body could be found.
The renewed search is being carried out by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR) on a site at Bragan near where other digs have taken place. Hundreds of mature trees on the bog were cut down last week to open the site up for excavation and allow forensic archaeologists to inspect roots.
The missing youth’s brother Oliver McVeigh said his family are sure Columba’s body was dumped on the remote upland, which has been overgrown by huge forestry over the last 30 years.
“The family is convinced his body is there. We are 100 per cent certain but it’s just a question of locating the spot in this bog,” he said. “It’s still a big strain on the family and it was his mother Vera’s wish to find her son that has kept us going. I can still see the anguish on her face. It will never leave me.”
Fifteen men and one woman were murdered and secretly buried by republican paramilitaries during the Troubles. Nine bodies have been recovered.
The remains of Columba McVeigh, Joseph Lynskey, Seamus Wright, Kevin McKee, Robert Nairac, Brendan Megraw and Seamus Ruddy have yet to be located.
PA