A daughter of Mrs Jean McConville, the mother of 10 murdered and disappeared by the IRA in 1972, will not attend her mother's funeral this weekend due to renewed disagreements with her family about the arrangements.
Mrs Helen McKendry said in a statement given to The Irish Times last night: "My siblings - and even more sinister elements - have combined to exclude my family and I from even the most basic involvement in her wake, service and her much-too-late interment."
Mrs McConville, a Protestant married to a Catholic, was abducted and killed by the IRA outside her west Belfast home after she went to the aid of a wounded British soldier. Her remains were discovered last summer by a walker on Shelling Hill beach, Co Louth, after digs in the locality had found nothing. DNA samples were used to identify her formally.
There were initial disagreements among her family whether she should be buried in Lisburn, Co Antrim, alongside her husband, or in Milltown cemetery in west Belfast alongside one of her daughters. This grave is close to the republican plot. Last night it emerged she will be buried finally alongside her husband.
Speaking of her wish to put the issue behind her, Mrs McKendry added: "The grave I can visit with my family at a quieter time and the thoughts of the many thousands who have rung and written and, above all, prayed will help me in my quest for solace." She said the support offered by other families of the disappeared and by the media had been unfailing.
The funeral Mass was to have been celebrated at St Mary's church on the very edge of west Belfast near the city centre. However that too has been the subject of disagreement among Mrs McConville's survivors. Her son-in-law, Mr Séamus McKendry, said last night he understood the Mass will now be in St Paul's church on the Falls Road.
The Irish Times was told Mrs McConville's family had met to discuss the funeral arrangements on Tuesday and had reached agreement. Outside mediators had been brought in to help family members agree on arrangements. Mr McKendry has since accused some family members of breaking their agreement. He said outside political pressure may have played a part in the decision of some family members to "renege" on the funeral arrangements.
Earlier this week, the Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, said there should be no pressure on the family from any source.