LAST UPDATE | 3 Apr 2023
A SEARCH OF a Co Monaghan site for the remains of one of the “Disappeared” has resumed, after having been paused in November due to “dangerous” ground conditions.
Columba McVeigh, 19, from Donaghmore in Co Tyrone, was last seen in November 1975.
McVeigh was abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA.
He is one of the “Disappeared” victims of the Troubles whose bodies have yet to be found.
The joint Irish and UK Commissioners of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains (ICLVR) have announced that the search for the remains of McVeigh on Bragan Bog Co Monaghan, will recommence today.
The current search, which is the sixth search for McVeigh’s body, started last October but was suspended at the beginning of November when the ground conditions became too dangerous for contractors and archaeologists to continue to work on it.
Geoff Knupfer had been the lead forensic scientist and investigator of the ICLVR, but retired last week.
Knupfer has been succeeded as lead investigator by Jon Hill.
Hill explained: “In terms of the way ahead, we will continue to methodically work our way through phase one of the search which will take us up to the tree line.
“Clearly we hope we find Columba before then but if we have to clear a section of the forest then we’ll do it.”
Hill said that “every time we undertake a search, the thoughts of everyone involved are with the McVeigh family”.
“Our focus is on doing everything we can to bring this search to a successful conclusion, he added. “If the remains of Columba are in this part of the bog we will find them”.
“I am totally confident that if he was buried here, we will find him. We have the experts, we have the technology, we have the equipment,” said Hill.
Hill said that the ICLVR is still appealing for anyone who may have information on McVeigh’s remains to contact them.
He noted that the resumption of the search did not mean that anyone who has information about where McVeigh is buried should assume that information is no longer relevant.
“If anyone has any information in relation to Columba’s disappearance, however insignificant they may think it is, they should get it to the Commission,” said Hill.
“We are entirely information driven. Any information that comes to us is treated in the strictest confidence and will never be used for any other purpose than to find the remains and return them to their family”.
The ICLVR also made an appeal for information on the three other outstanding “Disappeared” cases of Joe Lynskey, Robert Nairac and Seamus Maguire.
McVeigh’s sister, Dympna Kerr, said the resumption of the bog search brings both hope and anxiety.
She was at the bog today as the search resumed.
She added that she hopes US President Joe Biden would be made aware of the families of the Disappeared who are still awaiting a resolution during his visit to Northern Ireland later this month for the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
“It’s 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement, that was to bring in a new beginning, a new dawn of hope and for many – including us – it did.
“But there is still a dark, thick cloud that hasn’t lifted for our family and the other families who are still waiting to bring him home.
“President Biden will rightly be proud of the role played by the USA in our peace process,” Kerr said.
“And President Clinton did so much for the families of the Disappeared, but President Biden needs to know that there is unfinished business and that there are Irish men and women who every day and every night still have to live in this horrible limbo.
“It has to end.”
-With additional reporting from Press Association
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