Two of the searches for the IRA victims which started three weeks ago were called off yesterday. The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains said it was suspending the digs at Blessington, Co Wicklow, and Oristown, Co Meath, and reviewing progress at the six other sites.
At the Wicklow site near Lac ken, gardai have been searching for the body of Mr Danny McIlhone. The other, in the Oristown bog near Kells, Co Meath, was indicated by the IRA as the location of the body of Mr Brendan Megraw. Members of the commission yesterday informed their families that the two searches were being discontinued.
Gardai accompanied members of the commission to the eight sites in Louth, Meath, Monaghan and Wicklow this week to reaffirm that the sites and locations excavated were correct, according to a Garda statement.
A commission source said the process of visiting each site and a comprehensive review of the situation were expected to be completed next Monday or Tuesday. The decision to suspend the two searches at Blessington and Kells had been taken pending the review, the spokesman said.
The Garda statement said searches had been extended unsuccessfully in all areas daily. A comprehensive review of the situation would take place next week. Work would continue at the remaining sites pending the commission's review. The scale had been expanded over the past three weeks and included excavation over many acres and the pumping out of thousands of gallons of water a day from bogland.
A coffin containing a body believed to be that of Mr Eamonn Molloy was left in Faughart cemetery, near Dundalk, on May 28th, giving rise to the hope that other bodies would be recovered shortly afterwards. In Carlingford, Co Louth, digging at Templetown beach continued yesterday in the search for Mrs Jean McConville's body. The family of Mrs McConville, a widowed mother of 10 who was abducted in 1972, have pledged to continue searching even if the formal Garda search is called off.
Mr Arthur McConville, the last of the children to see his mother alive, admitted yesterday he was losing hope. "I thought it was only a formality after they handed over Eamonn Molloy's body, that they all would be handed over in the same way. Every day now it is getting worse. Hope has faded away with three weeks past."
Her son, Robert, who was 17 when she disappeared, has appealed to the IRA to stop using the families of the victims as pawns.
"I have one message to the IRA, stop using these families of the disappeared as political pawns and come out with the exact location of where the bodies are, because after so many years the IRA can pinpoint their arsenal and know exactly where they are.
"They are known for keeping records for history's sake and history is repeating itself. The longer this goes on, they prolong the agony for the families waiting for their loved ones' return," he said.