The fourth and latest attempt to locate the body of one of the disappeared, Columba McVeigh, has been called off.
Efforts to find the body of Mr McVeigh, who was 17 when he was abducted and shot dead by the IRA in 1975, failed after a four-week dig at bog land at Bragan, Co Monaghan.
Despite the decision by the Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains to end this search, Mr McVeigh’s brother Oliver said last night he would continue to try to find Columba’s body “as long as there is breath in my body”.
He said he wasn’t prepared to give up out of respect for his brother and late mother Vera McVeigh, who campaigned for years to have her son’s body returned so he “could have a Christian burial”.
Oliver McVeigh (50) urged the Sinn Féin leadership to be more “proactive” in seeking to persuade some of the dozen or so IRA members involved in the abduction and murder to come forward with more accurate information on where Columba might be buried.
He thanked those who had already come forward for their “compassion” and called on others involved in his disappearance to now contact the commission.