The family of a 15-year-old boy, with the mentality of a nine-year-old, shot dead by the IRA 31 years ago have welcomed a statement from the IRA apologising for his murder, writes Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor.
Bernard Teggart died in hospital from a gunshot wound to the head after he was found lying near the old Floral Hall ballroom, at Bellevue Zoo in north Belfast.
His hands and feet were bound and a piece of cardboard pinned to his shirt labelled him a "tout".
He had been abducted with his identical twin brother, Gerard, from St Patrick's Detention Centre in west Belfast, then run by the De La Salle Brothers, in November 1973.
Gerard was given some money by his captors to get a bus home while Bernard, who had been tortured, was shot.
The IRA did not say why the organisation killed Bernard Teggart but it is understood it was because he remonstrated with a group of IRA members, who were hijacking a beer lorry in west Belfast around that period.
His sister, Ms Alice Harper, told The Irish Times in January the grim circumstances behind his murder.
She explained how Bernard was innocent and childish and had never informed on the IRA, but merely acted in a spontaneous fashion when he saw the driver of the lorry being threatened.
She appealed to the IRA "to tell me the truth, to clear my brother's name, and to give us an apology. That will help. It will help me, my family and, especially, my mother."
The IRA in the current edition of the republican weekly, An Phoblacht, said it was sorry for the boy's death.
The statement said: "Following a request from the family of 15-year-old Bernard Teggart from Belfast, the IRA has carried out an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death on 13 November 1973.
"At the time, no formal claim of responsibility for his death was issued. We can now confirm that Bernard Teggart was shot by the IRA. We offer our sincere apologies to the Teggart family for the pain and grief we have caused. The killing of Bernard Teggart should not have happened."
Ms Harper welcomed the statement last night.
"We have waited for the apology long enough. We are glad to get it," she said.
The family in a general statement added that the IRA apology validated their argument that the killing was morally wrong and wholly unjustifiable.
"Bernard was an innocent child subject to a horrendous ordeal that culminated in his killing. Two years earlier our father, Daniel Teggart, was shot dead by the British army. Both incidents have had a huge and indescribable impact on us all, in particular our mother who despite such loss admirably raised 13 children," the Teggart family added.
Bernard and Gerard Teggart were held in St Patrick's Detention Centre, where they stayed from Sunday night to Friday, essentially for truancy. They were allowed home at the weekends. The Teggarts now also want to know why the boys were handed over to the IRA when the IRA called for them.
One De La Salle brother told The Irish Times the boys were handed over because an IRA member deceived the brothers by claiming he was their uncle.
Ms Harper says her information is that the brothers were too frightened not to hand the boys over.
The Teggart murder was far from being the only such atrocity of the Troubles.
But what made it particularly significant is that Ms Harper was supported in her efforts to establish the truth by the umbrella group, Eolas, which represents the IRA prisoners' organisation, Coiste na nIarchimí, and the Relatives for Justice group, concerned mainly about British army and loyalist injustices against republicans and nationalists.
Eolas supports the concept of truth and reconciliation. Its republican connections and its successful involvement in this case have opened up the possibility that the IRA will engage more fully in the truth process.