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The Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan, has welcomed the new search being undertaken for the remains of Columba McVeigh by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains which commenced this week in Co. Monaghan.

Minister Flanagan said:

My thoughts are with the family of Columba McVeigh at this difficult time. We all hope that this latest search at Bragan Bog in County Monaghan will be successful. At this time we think also of the other families who still await the return of their loved ones’ remains.

The work of the Victims’ Remains Commission is a humanitarian task to support the families of the disappeared who have suffered so cruelly from the loss of their loved ones. The Commission will continue its work and I appeal to anyone with any information that could help to make the information available to the Commission without delay.

Note for Editors

Columba McVeigh was a 19 year old single man from Donaghmore, Co. Tyrone who had moved to Dublin. He disappeared on 31 October 1975 and is believed to have been secretly buried at Bragan bog in Co. Monaghan. Four previous searches of the area have not succeeded in locating his remains.

The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR) was established by an Agreement between the Government of the Ireland and the Government of the United Kingdom signed on 27 April 1999, and by legislation enacted in both jurisdictions. The ICLVR is responsible for facilitating the location of the remains of victims of paramilitary violence who were murdered and secretly buried.

Information about the missing victims is fundamental to the ICLVR’s work. The ICLVR needs further information to be able to progress its investigations into the remaining disappeared victims - Joe Lynskey, Robert Nairac and Columba McVeigh.

The ICLVR can be contacted by telephone: 00800-55585500 International: +353 1 602 8655. E-mail information to: Secretary@iclvr.ie. By post to: ICLVR PO Box 10827