The families of the "disappeared" have warmly welcomed the decision by the Irish and British governments to increase efforts to examine the possibility of locat- ing the remaining graves of the so-called "disappeared" and believe that excavations for them will take place again.
Yesterday's joint statement also confirmed that the list of the disappeared had been widened from the original nine to include four others: Charles Armstrong and Gerard Evans who disappeared from south Armagh, Robert Nairac and Seamus Ruddy. Mr Ruddy is believed to have been murdered by the INLA and to be buried in France.
Anne Morgan, Mr Ruddy's younger sister, said the decision to include them was something the families of the disappeared had been campaigning for. "Today is a good day for us. It is heartening for those families and will put pressure on Sinn Féin to show more interest as two of them disappeared in south Armagh."
She confirmed that all the families had met the forensic science consultant who was retained to review steps taken by the commission to date and they welcomed confirmation that he would be retained and a support team with specialist expertise would be put in place by next month to follow through on the recommendations of the review.
"Putting the team in place was very important for us and we also campaigned for it. The team will be from both the North and South and they will know how to locate bodies. Although this is a good day for us we know that it doesn't mean the bodies will be found."
She believes that when digs resume they will be "controlled excavations" and, "will take place when all the pieces are in place and we won't have the horrendous scenes of 1999 and 2000".
The IRA gave details of the location of the graves of the original nine in 1999 but extensive searches only revealed one grave in Co Monaghan which contained the remains of two young men. The most high profile was Belfast mother of 10 Jean McConville. Templetown beach in Co Louth was excavated by gardaí for two years in succession but her grave was only revealed in 2003 after it was accidentally discovered on another beach by members of the public.
It is believed to be highly unlikely such excavations will take place this year.